On February 3, a famous Ukrainian couple visited Den/The Day’s editorial office. They were film director and screenwriter Vasyl Viter and his wife, producer and editor Halyna Kryvorchuk. Viter is the president of the VIATEL Studio, director at the Institute of Screen Arts at the Karpenko-Kary National University of Theater, Cinema, and Television, and member of the National Association of Cinematographers of Ukraine. He also works fruitfully in the documentary field: the one series The Game of Fate, a modern saga of Taras Shevchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, Vasyl Stefanyk, and other literature classics and outstanding figures like Princess Olha, Yaroslav the Wise, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, has over 80 episodes!
The history front is one of the key platforms where the information war is being waged now. “The informational combat that is being carried out forces us to have a conscious attitude towards everything that happens in our country; however, not all of the past is reinterpreted. Instead, yesterday [on February 3. – Ed.] Dozhd TV channel mentioned that Russia is making tens of films about war to the 70th anniversary of the World War II, another propaganda fist is being clenched. And what will Ukraine’s answer be?” asked Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna, who was present at the meeting.
“As a member of the State Film Commission, which handpicks film scripts for the upcoming year, I can say that only several projects on the subject of WWII were presented during the pitching, but they are not sponsored by the state,” Viter comments. “I think the social reaction in relation to WWII has to be adequate. Quite a few of people who saw that war or heard about it still live among us. And now the time to reinterpret those events has come. Films that were shot before are a reflection of the Soviet Union. They are few, and only the characters switched from one to another. There are no films similar to the German Generation War that would reinterpret the history. If the subject of war is important for the state, for European countries, it must be important for us, directors, as well.”
“It is important to cover the war themes, because Ukraine is being dragged into this whirlpool again and again. And this painful topic is relevant today,” Kryvorchuk continues. “But a special contest must be announced for this theme. And such films have to be fully financed by the state.”
What should the rear film support to Ukrainian soldiers be like? Why is it necessary to develop the image of the Armed Forces of Ukraine? How can TV channels broadcast programming be changed effectively? What awaits the talented and ambitious graduates of the directing department, when the state virtually does not support the development of the cinematography?
