Filmmakers from Kyiv attend Columbia University Film Club's screening (03/27/05)

Filmmakers from Kyiv attend Columbia University Film Club's screening

by Stefan Rak

NEW YORK - On Wednesday, March 9, the Ukrainian Film Club of Columbia University presented three short-length films: Taras Tomenko's "Shooting Gallery" (Tyr, 2001), Mr. Tomenko's "Parched Land" (Peresokhla Zemlia, 2004), and Taras Tkachenko's Tragic Love for Flighty Nuska (Trahichne Kokhannia do Zradlyvoyi Nusky, 2004). Both directors attended the event and engaged in a post-screening discussion with the audience.

Mr. Tkachenko's "Tragic Love for Flighty Nuska," based on Yuri Vynnychenko's short story "A Grenade for Two," is a sepia-toned film that follows the antics of two young friends as they vie for the attention of the older, beautiful, girl-next-door Nuska. In the first few episodes of the film, the boys spy on Nuska from a distance: from the cover of reeds while she bathes in a pond, from behind a fence as she walks by. Even as their actions progress from voyeurism to poetry-writing to a suicidal pact, the film maintains an aura of light-hearted innocence. "Tragic Love," regardless of its title, ends on a positive, gleeful note, with Nuska chasing the boys through the woods after their failed suicide.

One of the film's greatest strengths is its almost magical realism. The film unfolds as a sort of dreamscape, with each scene achieving its own individual timelessness. Throughout the film, Mr. Tkachenko employs unconventional camera angles, and his compositions reveal an impressive sense of depth and space. The director explained that the film springs from his own experiences growing up in Ukraine in the 1970s, and it is clear that memory and its reconstruction (remembering) is a significant theme of the film. In all, "Tragic Love" is a highly successful film, evocative and playful, thoughtful and humorous.

"Shooting Gallery" is a more somber exploration of childhood. Mr. Tomenko shot the film in black and white, adding to the grittiness of the aura of urban decay within the film. The story focuses on a young boy whose greatest pleasure is in going to the shooting gallery. The film reveals very little of the boy's life, but he seems to be parentless and homeless. In fact, the protagonist is portrayed by a bona fide street kid who lived with Mr. Tomenko during the shooting. "Shooting Gallery" is an evocative, sympathetic exploration of the potential ills of society's neglect of its children.

Mr. Tomenko's "Parched Land" perhaps had the strongest immediate effect on the audience. The film is a parable about a man who discovers an angel near his home in the desert. He brings the angel home and locks him up in the chicken coop. He quickly realizes the economic benefits of his treasure, and sets up shop charging people for a glimpse of the angel. The film follows his rise to riches, climaxing in a carnivalesque orgy of food and wine and bodies. Avarice has completely consumed the protagonist, and the poor angel's sufferings are of little concern to him. By the end of the film, however, the main character finds himself alone again, deserted.

Though the film instantly recalls the work of Federico Fellini, Sergei Paradjanov, early Nicolas Roeg, Luis Buñuel, or even Salvador Dali", "Parched Land" is a singularly unique film. A surreal logic pervades the film, with an intentional ambiguity as to where the angel has come from, and where it ultimately goes. From the arid barrenness of the desert to the comic grotesqueness of the feast, there seems to be a constant, dream-like conflation of fantasy and reality. Its lack of dialogue adds to the other-worldliness of the film, but it also speaks of the universal theme of the story. This form of greed and insensitivity has cropped up in other contexts, for example in the parading of Native Americans in Europe or of physically deformed people in circuses and carnival shows across the world.

The film screening and discussion were a great success, giving the audience a chance to see three excellent films and allowing the directors a chance to speak about their work. Though it took some time for the audience to warm up, soon enough there were too many questions for moderator Yuri Shevchuk, founder and director of Columbia's Ukrainian Film Club to field. It became clear that those in attendance were genuinely interested in the three shorts, and the directors were more than happy to answer questions and expound upon their films. The discussion ranged from the specifics of filmmaking to the general state of contemporary Ukrainian film.

Mr. Tkachenko elaborated on the use of music in "Tragic Love": the inclusion of an Indian song in the film, from a Bollywood musical that was popular in Ukraine in the 1970s, is a circumstantial but historically enriching detail. Also, Mr. Tkachenko explained that the film's visual grittiness in part owes to the old age of the original film stock, much of it scratched from years of disregard.

One audience member asked Mr. Tomenko about the origin of the angel in "Parched Land." Mr. Tomenko explained that, as a parable, the question of the angel's origin is a moot point. Nevertheless, he entertained the question, proffering that perhaps the angel had fallen from God's graces, or had been pushed out of heaven by other angels. But the angel's story is not the story of the film - "Parched Land" is a film about a man who finds, in Mr. Tomenko's words, "his angel." What he does with his angel is the issue in the film.

Other viewers likened the three works to other films and filmmakers, citing noticeable stylistic similarities to the work of Kira Muratova, Fellini, Paradjanov and others.

The question-and-answer session could have continued much later into the night, so great was the audience interest and the directors' pleasure in having their work appreciated. "Tragic Love for Flighty Nuska," "Shooting Gallery" and "Parched Land" are a testament to the fact that Ukraine has much to offer in terms of an intelligent, rewarding, artistic cinema. It will come as no surprise to me if these three films emerge as crucial texts within the framework of a developing Ukrainian national cinema. One can only hope that filmmakers as talented as Messrs. Tomenko and Tkachenko will continue to produce such compelling works of art, and that Ukrainian cinema will begin to flourish.

For more information on upcoming Ukrainian Film Club events, please visit the website at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ufc.

Stephen O. Rak is a cinema studies student working toward a master's degree at Tisch School for the Arts, New York University.

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