The Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) has all the time handled the Ukrainian nation with nice respect and sympathy. Our competition workforce has all the time been collectively with Ukrainian people who find themselves at present combating for his or her independence.Three years in a row we have organised charity auctions for Ukraine on the HÕFF competition. We’ve stopped screening Russian and Belarusian state-funded movies already in 2022. We had been the primary to showcase Ukrainian movie initiatives that had been placed on maintain because of the struggle on the world’s largest movie competition, Cannes, to pave the best way for them to go worldwide.
Ukrainian movies have been an necessary a part of our competition programme. PÖFF 2024 isn’t an exception. Our programme consists of eight Ukrainian-produced or co-produced movies, in addition to movies on the theme of Ukraine.
One of those is Deaf Lovers, which has already had some severe backlash, not solely amongst Ukrainians but additionally amongst Russians – with out anybody having seen it but.
We affirm that the movie will not be funded by the Russian Federation. Even extra, its creator, Boris Guts, left Russia after the outbreak of full-scale struggle, and has been dwelling as a refugee in completely different European international locations, at present in Serbia. He has repeatedly spoken out towards the Russian struggle towards Ukraine, and towards the Putin regime.
Guts’s earlier movie, Minsk, based mostly on the tragic occasions that happened in Belarus after the 2020 presidential elections, was shot in Estonia. It was supported by the Estonian Film Institute and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. Minsk is banned in Belarus and Russia, and was screened at almost 20 worldwide movie festivals in 2022, together with PÖFF. Boris Guts’ latest movie Deaf Lovers is a 100% impartial movie made with his personal cash and with a minimal funds. The movie was shot in Istanbul with a global crew. Estonian authors have additionally contributed to the movie, and it’s co-produced by Estonian studio Max-Grip.
PÖFF has all the time supported impartial voices, and saved the door open to all filmmakers whose movies signify democratic values. This 12 months’s version options Israeli and Palestinian movies facet by facet. PÖFF has additionally all the time proven movies by oppositional Russian and Belarusian filmmakers who stay in exile and signify completely different values from the official doctrine of their residence international locations. The identical applies to Georgian opposition filmmakers combating towards the creeping censorship in their nation.
We have removed Deaf Lovers from our Standing with Ukraine programme – in the warmth of the second, it’s the solely proper factor to do. The movie can be screening on the Official Selection Competition as deliberate. We proceed to consider that that is an artistically highly effective anti-war work that reaches into figurative language. The movie tells the story of a Ukrainian lady and a Russian boy who occur to satisfy in Istanbul. At first there may be sympathy between them, however the struggle in Ukraine brings battle into their lives, culminating in violence towards the lady. The lady refuses to simply accept violence — she is impartial and leaves the boy. The movie concludes that love between a Ukrainian lady and a Russian boy has change into unattainable in a struggle scenario. As the lady says on the finish of the movie – “Maybe only after 100 years”. One can see right here the metaphor of Ukraine leaving the violent Russian Empire.
Last however not least, the movie additionally gives useful polemical materials on different very topical points: who’s the Russian director in exile, what’s his id, and the way the movie can be utilized for propaganda functions.
We invite you to the cinema and sit up for an excellent dialogue afterward. Just hold in thoughts—whereas freedom of expression is necessary, it’s important to respect others as nicely. In our discussions, we keep away from defamation, and comply with the regulation. If anybody breaks these guidelines, the organizers of PÖFF are ready to take motion to guard everybody’s rights.
On behalf of the PÖFF workforce,
Tiina Lokk, Festival Director
