There is a regularity in our culture that passes through the ages with an unfortunate systematicity. As soon as a truly outstanding cultural tradition appeared on the territory of modern Ukraine, it ceased to exist within a few years. The largest domestic film forum – the Odesa International Film Festival (OMF) – was on the verge of collapse just a few months ago. However, as a result, it not only happened, but also improved to some extent compared to previous years.
In previous years, the main stars came to the OMCF in transit through the Moscow Film Festival, which takes place a month earlier. This is how John Malkovich, Geraldine Chaplin, Peter Greenaway and other masters of modern cinema appeared in Odesa. As the president of OMCF Victoria Tihipko explained in one of the interviews, stars of this scale have no idea what Ukraine is like, so they are afraid to come to us. When they find themselves in Moscow, they more or less form an impression of the Eastern European world, and they more calmly accept an invitation to visit little-known Odessa.
Previously, they were afraid to visit Ukraine because they did not know what kind of country it was. And now – after the recent events – they are afraid to come to us because they know who we are. This is what the organizers of the festival explained about the absence of big foreign stars this year.
But their absence had at least one, but significant “plus” – festival guests had to pay more attention to the films themselves, and not to the red carpet and parties with celebrities. Moreover, the main competition of the fest this year was much more attractive than in the past.
Due to the fact that quite mediocre films competed for the main awards of the OMCF in the past years, the film forum even received the unspoken stigma of “mediocre film fest”. But thanks to the quality of this year’s OMCF films, he was practically washed away from this title.
By tradition, Kinotavr and Berlinale have become the main suppliers of the most interesting films at OMCF. On the latter, an average of 80 tapes were shown annually. At the same time, about 15 of them consistently come precisely from the mentioned Berlin and Sochi film festivals.
For example, one of the first films shown as part of the competition program was the winner of the Berlin Film Festival, Black Coal, Thin Ice. In addition to the “Golden Bear”, this Chinese film was also awarded the prize for the best male role. Well, at the OMCF, she added to her collection of awards with the award for the best director.
The tension of this picture is not inferior to the best French detectives. The interestingly twisted plot is complemented by the brutality characteristic of Eastern cinema. Ragged corpses, splatters of blood, rape – all this is found in every two out of three Far Eastern films that reach Ukraine. However, unlike many films from those regions, in “Black Coal, Thin Ice” it looks completely justified.
The main prize (the “Golden Duke” statuette and 12,000 euros) was won by the audience’s vote for the Israeli film “Motivation Zero” directed by Talia Levy.
The tape tells about friends Zoar and Duffy, who serve in the administration of an artillery base in the south of Israel. Both of them work in the administrative office. Duffy does everything to transfer from this boring military base, which is located somewhere far in the desert. She dreams of getting a place in a similar military complex in Tel Aviv, where life is in full swing. At the same time, Zoar’s friend tries to keep her in every possible way, so that she does not remain there alone and does not sour from boredom. Even Zoar has an equally important goal – to lose one’s virginity.
Probably, the OMCF audience, who awarded this black comedy the festival’s main award, seemed close to the everyday life described here during the war. How the heroines of the tapes solve their anal and life issues, while explosions and gunshots are heard a hundred or two kilometers away. After all, Ukrainians have been living in this state for the past few months.
In the career of director Talia Lavi, this is the debut full-length feature work. Before that, she became famous with the short film “Replacement”, which received the prize of audience sympathy at the Berlinale, as well as the first award of the Munich International Short Film Festival.
The tape “Motivation Zero” won with an average score of 4.65. The Ukrainian “Guide” by Oles Sanin, which the audience rated at 4,598 points, was slightly behind her. The screenings of the latter were attended by a huge number of patriots, fans of Kobzarism, to which the film is dedicated, as well as just people in embroidered dresses. The nationalism with which “The Guide” is delicately imbued certainly raised the average score of the film. However, he failed to win at the expense of this. So, all these viewers evaluated the picture primarily not by ideological, but by artistic qualities. And this cannot help but please. After all, this once again confirms the maturity and adequacy of the OMCF viewer, who civilly places accents in the film evaluation.
Valentyn Vasyanovych’s documentary “Prysmerk” was recognized as the best Ukrainian film. No, it has nothing to do with the vampire saga “Twilight”… The picture tells about 82-year-old Maria and her
blind son Sashka. They live out their lives in a godforsaken village on the edge of civilization. Sasha is afraid that his mother will die and he will be left alone. And in this case, because of his illness, he will not be able to perform basic household chores. In turn, Maria, already tired of life, was also missing the death of her son…
Few people will be interested in the lifestyle of these two people. However, Vasyanovych makes their problems universal, and the truths they face universal. Therefore, the actions of the film’s characters seem absurd only at the beginning of the film. In the end, his own life will seem absurd to the viewer.
During the previous four years, OMCF developed at a galloping pace. And this year, due to the slightly biased attitude of the conscious public towards Serhii Tihipko, whose participation in many ways depends on the holding of the festival, the attitude towards this film event has changed noticeably. Guests became more restrained in their enthusiasm for the festival, journalists – more sharp in their reports, and participants – few words. But probably the worst thing about this is that sponsors have become less generous. Despite all this, the OMCF still took a small step forward.
In general, the out-of-competition program of the festival was traditionally more interesting than the films between which the awards of the film forum were played.