Ukrainian Film Club at Columbia University fortifies interest in Ukraine's cinema (10/16/05)

Ukrainian Film Club at Columbia University fortifies interest in Ukraine's cinema

by Edith Honan

NEW YORK - On a cool September evening not long ago, a crowd gathered in a Columbia University classroom for a screening of Ihor Strembitsky's "The Wayfarers," a documentary that was this year's pick for the Palme d'Or for Short Films at the Cannes International Film Festival. It was the first Ukrainian film ever to have won, and the Columbia event, organized by the Ukrainian Film Club, marked its American premier.

"Strembitsky is very interested to hear from you," Prof. Yuri Shevchuk, the film club's director, told the audience. He urged the audience members to add their comments to the club's online forum, adding, "A filmmaker who has a very small viewership would appreciate that."

These days, one is more likely to keep up with Ukrainian cinema in New York than in Kyiv, where movie timetables tend to be dominated by Hollywood and Russian films. This summer, for instance, the biggest blockbusters in Kyiv were "Madagascar" and "Zhmurki," Aleksei Balabanov's latest addition to the Russian gangster genre.

"You go to Ukraine and you see Spiderman posters," said Greg Babiuk, a filmmaker with Ukrainian roots, who forms part of the club's devoted following. "You don't see films that they're making around the corner."

And this is where the Ukrainian Film Club comes in. The club, which turns a year old this month and holds screenings about every four weeks, positions itself as part of a larger effort to fortify interest in Ukrainian cinema in the West. The online forum (www.columbia.edu/cu/ufc) is at the heart of the effort, in that it allows film directors who are based in Ukraine to interact with and receive feedback from viewers from outside the country.

Ukrainian cinema has not fared well since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Ukraine lacks an adequate distribution system, governmental or private sponsorship, and, for the moment, a national taste for films made on its own soil. "The likelihood of finding a Dovzhenko, Paradjanov, Muratova or Illienko film in a video rental shop in Boston or New York is much higher than in Odesa or Kharkiv," reads a statement on the club's website. "Even Ukrainian DVD pirates seem uninterested in Ukrainian films."

And yet, a critical mass of film-makers has prevailed - making films on shoestring budgets and working on outdated equipment. "The Wayfarers," Prof. Shevchuk told the audience, was no exception. "Everything that could go wrong did go wrong on the way to Cannes," he said. "It was nothing short of a detective story." Mr. Strembitsky's budget totaled $3,000 and the film was made using shreds of defective film stock.

"There's nothing like the old Soviet Hollywood that used to exist with all of the State support," said Mark von Hagen, Columbia professor of history and the director of the Ukrainian Studies Program. Still, he added, "There's plenty of talent from the old days - and new talent also - that's looking for outlets."

The film club aspires to be such an outlet. During frequent trips to Ukraine, Prof. Shevchuk meets with Ukrainian directors and collects the work of new artists. For those films that do not have English-language subtitles, Prof. Shevchuk has launched an international translation workshop to create them. At the September screening, Viktoria Melnykova's "Consonance," a documentary about choral music in Ukraine, was shown using subtitles made by the workshop.

"I think that the Ukrainian community is always interested in hearing the newest and the latest from Ukraine, and Yuri provides that," said Diana Howansky, the administrative liaison to the Ukrainian Studies Program, refering to Prof. Shevchuk. "Your average American wouldn't know where to find these films and Yuri is always searching out information." Ms. Howansky noted that Ukrainian Americans have contacted her from California and Texas to find out more about the film club.

The success of the club can be explained in part by its website - a clearing house of information about Ukrainian cinema that includes film reviews, transcriptions of interviews conducted by Prof. Shevchuk, descriptions of the films shown and the online forum.

Since its creation last February, the website has received more than 4,000 hits, according to Adrian Podpirka, a Columbia undergraduate who is its webmaster. Of the last 100 visitors, two-thirds were from the United States; the rest were from Canada, Italy, Turkey, Poland and Slovenia. Typically, 10 to 15 percent of hits come from Ukraine.

Mr. Podpirka said that the club introduces him to a slice of Ukraine that has been kept hidden. "[The club] is doing a lot for the Ukrainian diaspora culture," he said. "You get to see what Ukrainian culture is."

The film club screens a mix of classic and recent productions. The next screening, scheduled for October 27, will present the Soviet-era horror film, "Viy," which is based on a short story by Mykola Hohol. The screening will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Hamilton Hall, Room 717, on the Columbia University campus.

"We're in New York and we're watching Ukrainian film. That's wonderful," said Mr. Babiuk, adding that the films have the potential to excite the imaginations of filmmakers here. "We've run out of ideas in the West, and there are a lot of interesting ideas in Eastern Europe."

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