Ukrainian cinema, protagonist of a few days at the URJC

Raul Garcia Hemonnet

The conference, which will be held this Wednesday (10:00 a.m. Hall of Degrees, Departmental Building, Fuenlabrada Campus) proposes a filmographic review from the era of splendor of Soviet cinema to the cinema produced by Ukrainian studios in the last decade.

Thus, the program is structured with two round tables in which these major topics will be addressed. This event, according to Jorge Latorre, professor in the area of ​​Art History and director of the conference, comes “at a time of reformulation of Ukrainian identity in the current context, since the Soviet encompassed everything, including the cinema that was made. in Ukraine or by Ukrainian directors.”

The opening presentation will be given by Oleksandr Pronkevich, Ukrainian professor of Spanish Literature.

The day will serve to remember, among other aspects, the importance of the city of Odessa as a Ukrainian film center and the setting for some of the greatest film works of Soviet cinema, such as Einstein's 'Battleship Potemkin', among others. Jorge Latorre explains the preponderance of said location, “when the International Film Festival was created in Ukraine in 2010, there was no doubt that it should be held in Odessa, the film city par excellence. It was here, in this cosmopolitan city founded by the Italian-Spanish José de Ribas in 1794, where the inventor Iosif Tymchenko created the first device to view moving images, two years before the Lumière brothers did so. The first film studio of the then Russian Empire was built in Odessa at the beginning of the 30th century; and in the 1926s, the town was considered “the Ukrainian Hollywood.” In fact, many of the founders of the great Hollywood majors in the United States were Jews from that city. The writer Isaac Babel was also from there, and the film Benya Krick (XNUMX) is inspired by one of his 'Tales from Odessa.'"

Actress and film producer Kateryna Shevchenko and artist Iury Lech will also participate in the meeting, who will talk about the organization of film festivals and the dialectic between Ukrainian and Russian visual narratives. In addition, several academics from Spanish universities who are experts in the subject will participate.

URJC students who prove attendance of at least 80% of the day will obtain academic recognition of credits.

Ukrainian cultural month

The URJC Ukrainian Cinema conferences constitute the prelude to the month of cinema and video art of that nationality that will take place in Madrid between October and November. On the one hand, the second Ukrainian Film Week, directed by Shevchenko and whose program will include 15 of the most outstanding films of Ukrainian cinema from its origins. On the other hand, the digital art festival MADATAC, directed by Lech, who has, on this occasion, Ukraine as a guest country and will dedicate a section to video artists from that country.