Wednesday March 30 – Saturday April 2, 11pm PT
Mariupol, I love you
A Benefit Screening for the people of Mariupol, Ukraine
Organized by Anton Varga, Luba Drozd, and Takflix
The event is taking place both in-person and online
A Q&A with Varga and Drozd follows the screening
Please join us on Wednesday March 30th at 7:30 pm for a screening to benefit the people of Mariupol, the city in Ukraine currently under siege and in the midst of a humanitarian catastrophe. All proceeds from the screening will be donated to Platforma TU, a local Mariupol NGO. More info about the organization can be found here: https://tu.org.ua/projects/viyna-rosii-proty-ukrainy/
From the organizers:
“Mariupol I love you” is mainly a collection of short films made by Mariupol filmmakers between 2016-2021. The short films are stories of everyday life, dreams, and relationships and how they were influenced by the first phase of the war that began in 2014. The screening will include video introductions by each of the directors.
“Me and Mariupol” features Donetsk-born director, Piotr Armianovski, talking to the people of Mariupol in search of the city he remembers from his childhood. “Ma” by Maria Stoianova is a mother-daughter dialogue taken with amateur phone footage in the face of war. “Territory of empty windows” and “Diorama” by Mariupol-born Zoya Laktionova explore how the war changed the face of the city.
Several “episodes” from a current work-in-progress titled “Mariupol [A Letter to Jenna]” by German filmmaker Jens Schwarz documenting residents of Mariupol including just prior to and following the start of the recent siege will be interspersed between films.
We are grateful to Microscope Gallery for providing the space, technical, and all possible means of support to make this happen and aid the people of Mariupol in dire need right now.
— Anton Varga and Luba Drozd
The screening is talking place both in-person and online. Donations will be accepted at the door for the in-person event and online for the virtual screening.
Online access will go live on this page at 7:00pm ET on the day of the show.
Suggested donation $15
Please note: Proof of Covid-19 and masks are required for our onsite events at this time.
Program:
Zoya Laktionova, “Diorama,” 2018, digital video, sound, 11 minutes 29 seconds
Life flows in its everyday reality, but then suddenly something elusive changes its course. All that is left is the chance to plunge into memories where everything is preserved, as if in a museum.
Maria Stoianova, “Ma,” digital video, sound, 2016, 16 minutes 56 seconds
Mom is feeding great tits from the window of her high-rise building in Mariupol, and growing queen apples in her summerhouse near the battle line. To show her simple life, she shoots videos on her small camera for her daughter, who lives in the capital and is hard to reach. To try to keep the conversation going, she feeds her overgrown child with morel mushrooms and fairytales.
Piotr Armianovski, “Me and Mariupol,” digital video, sound, 2017, 9 minutes 48 seconds
For the first time I saw the sea in Mariupol. I think this town has got a fairy tale. After 20 years I went on to find it.
Zoya Laktionova, “Territory of empty windows,” digital video, sound, 2020, 10 minutes 6 seconds
War and abandoned ecology are two themes that permeate the everyday life of Mariupol residents. World War II and the local plant became the reason for Zoya`s family to move to Mariupol. And the war with Russia along with environmental consequences of the plant`s operation have played a dramatic role in her future life.
Jens Schwarz, “Mariupol [A Letter to Jenna], digital video, sound, (work in-progress)
In the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the city of Mariupol saw skirmishes break out between Ukrainian government forces and separatist militias affiliated with the so called Donetsk People’s Republic and backed by Russia. Being located only 15km from the resulting front lines, it was subsequently attacked militarily by rocket shelling in 2015 – from DPR controlled territories, according to OSCE monitors. Already alongside the geopolitical escalation of the conflict, scientific evidence showed that Mariupol’s population had been subject to foreign interference in connection with pro-Kremlin narratives, targeted disinformation campaigns and conspiracy theories. After Vladimir Putin’s formal recognition of the Russia-backed so called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics on February 21, 2022, Russian troops in a war of aggression started invading Ukrainian territory the day after, systematically destroying infrastructure and civilian homes in Mariupol. Since then, the city became a site of war atrocities and crimes against humanity through aggressive and continuous shelling from Russian troops. Numerous attempts to establish humanitarian corridors to protect the civilian population failed in the days that followed.
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Zoya Laktionova was born in Mariupol, Ukraine. Then she moved to Kyiv, where she studied and worked in the field of digital marketing, and was fond of film photography. She has collaborated as a photographer with Ukrainian artists, and participated in exhibitions as an independent photographer. She came to the world of documentary cinema as one of the heroines of the film Ma directed by Maria Stoianova in 2017. The film won the Grand Prix in the My Street Films Ukraine 2017 competition organised by the International Festival of Film and Urbanism 86. A year later Zoya participated in My Street Films Ukraine 2018 as a filmmaker, and won the competition with her first film Diorama.
Maria Stoianova is a Kyiv-based filmmaker. She studied Culturology at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Central European University. Maria worked in various positions in the film industry of Ukraine. She also directed and edited four short documentaries. Her film Ma (2017) won a number of awards at international film festivals. Maria Stoyanova participated in programs for young filmmakers including IDFA Academy, INDIE Lab, EAST WEST TALENT Lab, The young about Ukraine, B2B DOC. She graduated from the DOC Workshop by Serhiy Bukovsky.
Piotr Armianovski (Donetsk, 1985) is a Ukrainian artist, performer and director. In his works Armianovski explores the themes of memory, the loss, social and symbolic constructs of everyday life. Piotr works with video, performance art and virtual reality. Lives in Kyiv.
Jens Schwartz (Berlin, 1968). Schwartz studied Art History in Paris, Political Science in Munich, and received a Master’s degree (Distinction) in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from LCC, University of the Arts, London. As a documentary photographer and visual storyteller Schwarz is interested in exploring anthropological and sociological questions related to social identity and political ideology. In a research-based approach he works multi-disciplinarily on self-initiated long form projects and international editorial assignments. Schwartz’ projects received several grants throughout his career, and his work has been nominated, among others, for the German Henri-Nannen-Prize and showcased at international photography festivals such as Format (UK), Photo:Israel and Les Rencontres d’Arles (France).
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Microscope’s Event Series 2021-22 is sponsored by Re:Voir, a home video label for classic and contemporary experimental film in Paris, France.
