Kyiv is certainly one of the most cinematic cities in Europe. In the 2010s, its views are increasingly becoming locations for the filming of feature films. Not only our, but also Western directors strive to capture this or that corner of the Ukrainian capital in their films. We have collected the most interesting pictures in which you can recognize the most different corners of Kyiv.
Mobius (2013)
On the last day of July 2012, Kiev film fans flocked en masse to Khreshchatyk – word spread that Jean Dujardin, who played the leading role in “The Artist,” for which he received an Oscar a few months earlier, was filming in the very center of Kiev. Not everyone was lucky enough to see the actor, so most of Dujardin’s fans had to wait for the premiere of the film “Möbius”, which takes place partly in our city.
The film will tell about an FSB special agent who is in love with his partner – an American who works as a trader in a Russian bank.
The film also featured Tim Roth (“The Legend of the Pianist,” “Four Rooms”), Cecile de France (“The Otherworld,” “Enemy of the State No. 1”), Vladimir Menshov, Alexey Gorbunov and others.
Feathered Dreams (2012)
The first film in the history of Ukraine, shot in co-production with Nigeria, “Light as a Feather” tells the story of an African girl who came to Kyiv to get a medical education at the University. Bogomolets. At the same time, she dreams of becoming a singer, in which Kiev resident Denis helps her.
The film was filmed in 2011-2012 in Kyiv. Already in the trailer you can see familiar places: Pedestrian Bridge, Kiev Recording House, Mariinsky Park, as well as the Dnepr and Pochtovaya Ploshchad metro stations.
Farewell (2009)
The plot of the film tells about a KGB colonel who, in the 80s, transported secret information “to the West.” Initially, the film was planned to be shot in Moscow, where the events described in the plot actually took place. They even planned to invite Sergei Makovetsky or Nikita Mikhalkov to play the main role.
But when the final version of the script reached the highest echelons of Russian power, criticism fell on it from literally all sides. Firstly, the scandal surrounding this case turned out to be a fresh wound on the body of the modern FSB. And secondly, Russian officials did not agree that a traitor to the motherland could be a hero, as was shown in the film.
Therefore, in the end, Emir Kusturica was invited to play the main role, and they decided to film in Kyiv and Kharkov.
Filming took place on Truda Boulevard (Darnitsa), one of the squares on which was turned into Moscow thirty years ago. Also in the trailer you can see the granite steps and arches for which Khreshchatyk is famous.
Lovers in Kyiv (2011)
This almanac of short films envelops Kyiv in legend, as if it were a city of romantics. Beautiful shots of the capital are almost the only thing that attracts attention in the film. Naive, sentimental stories unfold here on the Lovers’ Bridge and Shevchenko Boulevard, in many parks, courtyards and other cozy corners of the city. This film made many viewers look at Kyiv with different eyes.
Evilenko (2004)
A film about the famous maniac Andrei Chikotilo was also filmed in Kyiv. True, the film did not adhere to strict biography, but created a universal image of the killer.
The main role was perfectly played by Malcolm McDowell, who became famous in his time for the film “A Clockwork Orange” by Stanley Kubrick. The director was David Grieco, who liked Kyiv so much that he even planned to live here for some time after filming.
Initially, work on the film was supposed to take place in Russia, but due to organizational problems, the film crew moved to Ukraine. Thus, in the feed you can see the Museum of the Second World War, the railway station and a number of other recognizable Kyiv views.
Rzhevsky against Napoleon (2011)
Oddly enough, one of the most striking landmarks of the city, the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, has appeared in only a couple of theatrical films in recent decades. While such iconic places become branded and cities are recognized by them (as by the Eiffel Tower – Paris, and by the skyscrapers of Manhattan – New York), our Lavra was not lucky. Firstly, this comedy received very negative reviews, and secondly, the shrine in the film plays the role of Moscow…
Synevir (2012)
Sofia of Kievskaya, who appears in the horror film Synevir, was a little more lucky. The film tells about a mystical monster with the body of a man and the head of a dog, which is found on the shores of the largest Carpathian lake, Synevyr. The frescoes of Sophia of Kyiv tell about the origin of this monster.
East-West (1999)
This film, nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and Cesar, was partially filmed in Kyiv. The delight of French filmmakers at the excellent domestic acting school, however, could not cover the shock from the realities of life in Ukraine.
For example, when filming a swimming competition scene, director Regis Warnier asked to clean the water in the pool. Why is the director bass?
Eina said that he would throw bleach there. “He wanted to dissolve my actors!.. This Soviet official in swimming trunks and a gas mask, diving into muddy water, became perhaps my most vivid impression of Ukraine,” complained the director of the film.
What Men Talk About (2010)
Previously, our northern neighbors often came to the “mother city of Russians” to film their films. Obviously, our city is no less cinematic than St. Petersburg or Moscow. For example, the heroes of the comedy “What Men Talk About” (2010) decide to go to Odessa to talk enough and feel the freedom of travel. It was Kyiv that gave them a piece of this freedom.
Kiev can also be recognized in other Russian and Ukrainian films: “The Illusion of Fear” (Lesya Ukrainka Boulevard, IEC), “Indie” (Naberezhno-Khreshchatytskaya street, intersection of Obolonskaya and Voloshskaya) and “Thirteen Months”, in which Gosha Kutsenko says goodbye to life on Pedestrian bridge (Evgeniy Grishkovets helps him with this).