Ukraine became the main topic of the “Artdocfest” film forum in Riga
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Ukraine became the main theme of the International Festival of Independent Documentary Cinema “Artdocfest/Riga” in Riga.
The festival opened with a minute of silence in memory of Alexei Navalny, with his portrait on stage. Then a portrait of the famous director Juris Podnieks appeared.
The opening film of “Artdocfest” is a biography of Podnieks, the author of the famous Perestroika-era film “It’s Easy to Be Young”. After filming on the barricades in Riga in January 1991 and the death of the operators of his film crew, as well as his tragic death in 1992, Podnieks became a symbol of the Baltic resistance to the Soviet regime for people who fought against totalitarianism and continue to fight.
On the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “Artdocfest” focuses on films shot on the front line, personal stories of refugees and volunteers. They were filmed by Ukrainian and European directors. There are many such tapes in the main program of the competition, in the program “Ukraine first” and in parallel viewings.
The full-scale and chamber documentaries present a picture of the destroyed regions of the east of the country, shots of the destroyed quarters of large cities, portraits of fighting volunteers and peaceful citizens of Ukraine.
The Russian and Belarusian context of the film forum is focused on stories of political protests in Minsk, Moscow and other cities of both countries.
Jury of the main competition “Artdocfest”: well-known human rights defender, Polish dissident of Soviet times, editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Vyborchei” Adam Mychnyk; opera, theater and cinema director Viesturs Kairyshs and actress Chulpan Khamatova. At the festival, she is presented not as a Russian performer, but as a Latvian actress. Khamatova left Russia after the war.
The festival will end with the film “A Bit of a Stranger” by the Ukrainian director Svetlana Lyshchynskaya. The documentary story of a native of Mariupol and her family was already celebrated this year at the “Berlinale” festival in Berlin.
Since the annexation of Crimea, the head of “Artdocfest” Vitaly Mansky has taken an anti-war position. In 2022, Mansky condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine. From March 2022, the festival does not cooperate with Russian producers and venues.
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