Kyiv Critics’ Week presents three Ukrainian shorts. Three films about belonging, family and crisis.
Black Mountain
Ukraine, 2016, 18′, Taras Dron
12-year-old Yurko lives in a remote mountain village with his mother, as his father went to work in Poland. Yurko’s struggle to keep his father’s truck turns into a story of premature coming-of-age.
Black Mountain as seen by Ukrainian critic Hanna Datsiuk:
The boy is restlessly waiting for his father, who left for work in Poland. But as time stretches on, the absence becomes heavier. Yurko’s mother, unable to break the truth, lets him hold onto the illusion. His father’s abandoned truck in the yard becomes a silent symbol of hope and a battle he refuses to lose.
Shot on film and set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Carpathian Mountains, Black Mountain captures the weight of waiting and the ache of growing up too soon. Taras Dron’s film is not only an ambitious attempt at a poetic reimagining of the Ukrainian village, but also a powerful narrative about the other side of emigration – the perspective of those who, in the end, were left behind.
Mustard in the Gardens
Ukraine, 2018, 37′, Petr Armyanovsky
Olena comes back to her childhood village, now located on the front line in the “grey zone” of the Donetsk region. After her mother’s death, the house was abandoned, and the war changed everything around it. Olena walks through the garden, where her brother once planted mustard, reflecting on memory and war.
Mustard in the Gardens as seen by Ukrainian critic Hanna Datsiuk:
Pyotr Armyanovsky’s documentary is centered around a monologue of a girl who processes the past, touching every small detail of her childhood home as both happy and tragic memories are awakened. The house itself is a key symbol — it stands literally at the intersection of war and peace, the past and the present. Despite its underlying bitterness, Mustard in the Gardens is incredibly moving and full of life. Human memory transforms the concept of home, and Olena’s childhood story serves as a springboard for deep reflections on the destruction of a once-familiar world.
Nail
Ukraine, 2016, 35′, Philip Sotnychenko
Valentyna works as a lawyer in a Bank in Liechtenstein. She lived in Kyiv until the age of 13. In 1996, during a hard transitive economic period in Ukraine, Valentina emigrated to Switzerland with her mother and stepfather. 20 years have passed. From the director of La Palisiada, presented at the last year’s edition of our festival.
Nail as seen by Ukrainian critic Hanna Datsiuk:
Nail tells the story of two time periods in Valentyna’s life. In 1996, she left Ukraine as a teenager, hoping to become a professional violin player. In 2016, she’s visiting Ukraine again as a successful lawyer based in Liechtenstein. Shot as a mockumentary/found footage, Nail builds the contrast between times, places, and languages. From a farewell family dinner filled with 1990s symbols of the post-Soviet era to a new life abroad, it explores the invisible ties and becomes almost a literal trip to the past.
Nail itself is a revisiting of the unique directorial approach of Philip Sotnichenko, whose recent full-length feature La Palisiada (2023) received rave reviews and was awarded the FIPRESCI prize at the Rotterdam Film Festival.Just like La Palisiada, this short film plays with memory and time, blending documentary aesthetics with artistic expression. A family gathering in 1996, the traditional Olivier salad on the table, adults talking in the kitchen — all of this becomes the starting point for a story about departure and return. Through the combination of old VHS recordings and carefully reconstructed scenes using media from the past, Nail has established itself as one of the most interesting explorations of the post-Soviet period in Ukraine and the narrative of “making it by leaving.”
About the speakers
Daria Badior is a film critic, editor, and co-curator of Kyiv Critics’ Week. Works as a journalist for Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne. Kultura, but has been contributing as a freelancer to Dwutygodnyk, Osteuropa, Kino Raksti, and others. Daria is a co-founder of the Union of Ukrainian Film Critics and a member of the European Film Academy.
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Kyiv Critics’ Week x NL: Fragments of Ice
Speakers
Kyiv Critics Week x NL is made possible with the support of Steunfonds Oekraïense makers, Stichting Droom en Daad, Gemeente Rotterdam, Ukrainian Institute and Embassy of Ukraine.
May 9 – May 11: The best of Ukrainian cinema to local audiences, selected and presented by Ukrainian film critics
From May 9 till May 11, Kyiv Critics’ Week x NL showcases the best of Ukrainian cinema, selected and presented by Ukrainian film critics Daria Badior, Hanna Datsiuk and Serhii Ksaverov. Since February 2022, when Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 6 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes.
A curated showcase of Ukraine’s most compelling films, exploring the theme ‘Away from Home’
