The Documentary Competition of Molodist Kyiv International FF, which was first held in 2020, includes the local debuts of ten international feature docs. Among them are two Ukrainian films.
Flowers of Ukraine by Adelina Borets tells the story of 67-year-old Kyivan Natalia, a strong and independent woman fighting for her land against all odds. Her story begins as a solo battle against developers and soon takes on a deeper meaning, as Russia invades Ukraine.
Ride the Line is directed by Ihor Volochii, a filmmaker and cyclist. This film is a story of a unique bike journey undertaken by two desperate friends who decided to cycle the entire 1,500 km front line in Ukraine, through liberated villages and towns, hearing the stories from local people and witnessing the consequences of the war with the aim of raising funds for Ukrainian aid projects.
Other highlights include What Did You Dream Last Night, Parajanov? which tells the personal story of director Faraz Fesharaki, who went to Germany to study filmmaking while his family remained in Iran. The film world premiered Berlinale Forum. The French doc Jeune Cinéma recounts the story of the festival of the same name that took place in France from 1965 to 1983. The film features unique archival footage with legendary filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard, Chantal Akerman, Leos Carax, and Philippe Garrel. The Documentary Competition also includes Tack by Vania Turner, which revolves around the story of child abuse and has been recognized at prestigious documentary Thessaloniki Film Festival and One World in Poland. Homegrown by Michael Premo, telling the a story of two right-wing supporters of Donald Trump, participated in the Venice Film Festival competition.
Full Documentary Competition:
- Flowers of Ukraine, Adelina Borets, Poland, Ukraine, 2024, 70’
- Homegrown, Michael Premo, USA, 2024, 109’
- Billy, Lawrence СÔTE-COLLINS, Canada, 2024, 107’
- What Did You Dream Last Night, Parajanov?, Faraz Fesharaki, Germany, 2024, 81’
- Jeune Cinéma, Yves-Marie Mahe, France, 74’
- In Perpetuo, Federico Barassi, Italy, 2024, 87’
- Riverboom, Claude Baechtold, Switzerland, 2023, 99’
- Tack, Vania Turner, Greece, 2024, 96’
- Who am I Smiling for?, Eeva Mägi, Estonia, 2023, 61’
- Ride the Line, Ihor Volochii, Ukraine, 2024, 70’
Festival organisers write how, since its launch in 1970, Molodist Kyiv International FF “developed from the local, purely professional review of student films of the newly opened Faculty of Cinematography at the Karpenko-Kary University to a major international event that discovers world-class directors.” These include the likes of Tom Tykwer, Francois Ozon, Bruno Dumont, Adina Pintilie who offered their new films to Molodist.
Non-competition documentary highlights at Molodist 2024 include the first Ukrainian screening of Dear Beautiful Beloved by Yurii Rechynskyi. The film, which world-premiered in Locarno, documents the evacuation of living people as well as the bodies of the deceased from the Ukrainian combat zone.
Audiences can also look see Izolyatsia by Igor Minayev, which tells the story of a Soviet factory in Donetsk that became the art center “Izolyatsia” in the 2000s, but which transformed into a torture chamber with the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war. “It serves as a documentary testimony to the process of dehumanization,” the festival writes.
