Ukraine war film is a missed opportunity for organisers

Thiruvananthapuram: IFFK has always been a sonorous sounding board for world’s most searing issues and this year also it is no different with its special focus on films from conflict zones. However, the IFFK organisers this time rue missing out on the Ukraine-Turkey production war drama ‘Klondike’, directed by Maryna Er Gorbach. There could not have been a more timely choice, but the organisers believe that the on-going war would have spoiled the plans of screening it for IFFK.
Artistic director Beena Paul said that ‘Klondike’was one film they badly wanted to screen at the 26th edition of the IFFK.“We had initial discussions with the producer of the film. They wanted it to be screened in the competition section. However, we could not accommodate a European film in the competition section. Then we pitched it for the world cinema section and we were hopeful. But we did not hear from them after that, we believe the on-going conflict could be a reason,” said Beena Paul.
The film co-produced by Mehmet Bahadır Er won the best director award in the ‘World Cinema Dramatic’ category at the Sundance Film Festival where it had premiered. “A film about the choices we make as the world is falling apart, giving life to it with its meticulously set framing, elegantly woven story and the performance of the actors,” the jury had noted regarding the film.
VOA news reporter Penelope Poulou did an interview with Maryna Er Gorbach after the beginning of the recent conflict and the filmmaker said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine never really ended. “When she started making this film, ironically Ukraine was not much in the news. She wanted to call attention to Ukrainian divisiveness, and wanted to show how relentlessly tough the living conditions are,” the report notes.
The story happens in 2014 at the beginning of a war in Donbas region and the crash of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 also forms the backdrop of the film. An expectant Ukrainian couple living on the Russia-Ukraine border refuses to leave their farmstead and house and eventually find themselves at the vortex of the war.