Columbia University to launch Ukrainian Film Club on October 21 (10/10/04)

Columbia University to launch Ukrainian Film Club on October 21

NEW YORK - The Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University is launching the Ukrainian Film Club with a screening of "Mamay" on Thursday, October 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Harriman Institute.

The goal of the Ukrainian Film Club is to promote Ukrainian cinema and culture within the Columbia and greater New York City community, and to showcase the best of Ukraine's classical and new cinema. The club is being inaugurated with the film "Mamay," the directorial debut of a 32-year-old award-winning film-maker Oles Sanin.

Released in 2003, "Mamay" is a full-length feature that is loosely based on the 16th century Ukrainian duma, or folk epic, "Flight of Three Brothers from the City of Azov" (Utecha Triokh Brativ z Azova).

Following the best traditions of Ukrainian poetic cinema, Mr. Sanin creates a love story between a Ukrainian Kozak and a Tatar woman that defies ethnic and religious taboos, and evokes a lesser-known Ukraine that, for centuries, has been home to many religions and cultures.

Preceding the film screening, Dr. Yuri Shevchuk, lecturer of Ukrainian language and culture at Columbia, will provide a commentary about the relevance of "Mamay" and Ukrainian film.

"Stylistically innovative, the film is a feast to the eye with intense color palette, breath-taking camera shots, and a soundtrack that is plainly hypnotizing. The actors are riveting," Mr. Shevchuk said.

"Mamay" will be shown in the original Ukrainian and Tatar languages, with English subtitles.

The screening will be on October 21 in Room 1219 of the Harriman Institute, located in the International Affairs Building at 420 W. 118th St., and is open to the public.

Future events of the Ukrainian Film Club at Columbia University will include a series on the newest in Ukraine's documentary film-making, including "Kinomania" (director Hanna Yarovenko), "Red Soil" (director Serhyi Bukovsky), "Old People" (directors Valentyn and Maxym Vasyanovych), as well as some classic films less familiar to American film aficionados, such as "White Bird with a Black Mark" (director Yuri Illienko) and "Babylon XX" (director Ivan Mykolaychuk).

For more information or to join the program's mailing list, please contact Diana Howansky, Ukrainian Studies Program, at (212) 854-4697 or ukrainianstudies@columbia.edu.

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