The organizer of the festival is the Ukrainian Institute of Sweden. Stockholm movie theater Zita Folkets Bio gathered over 150 people on the first day of screenings. The audience included mostly Swedes and many diaspora Ukrainians, who came to watch the first film in the Ukrainian five-film cycle, Brothers. The Final Confession. The film was presented by director Viktoria Trofimenko. The rest four films, Haytarma, The Guide, The Tribe, and The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors will be screened in the movie theater on the next few Mondays.
“Swedish society has always strongly supported Ukraine. After Russia levied war against your country, the support has increased greatly. We feel solidarity with Ukraine and its people. The Ukrainian Institute of Sweden is doing a great cause,” Minister of Culture and Democracy of Sweden Alice Bah Kuhnke said before the screening of the film.
“The first day of the festival fully met my expectations,” director of the Festival of Ukrainian Cinema Roman Horbyk shared his impressions. “In present-day world cinema is a culture calling card of the country, the easiest way to learn another country. We not always have the support of the international community we expect to receive. In particular, the reason is that foreigners don’t know Ukraine. The promotion of the national cinema is a thing of utmost importance today and this is what the state must take care of.”
Director of Ukrainian Institute of Sweden Natalia Pasichnyk considers that namely today Ukraine has an incredibly great chance to present itself to the world, not only in political life, but also in culture.
“Our neighbors are investing huge money in popularization of their culture. However, in Ukraine this sphere has been neglected. The Institute was founded because of the understanding that there is a war in Ukraine, and everyone is concerned with the problems of reforms, so nobody is taking care of the image of Ukraine abroad. Our purpose is to bring cultural Ukraine to Swedes,” Natalia Pasichnyk sums up. The organizers are planning to hold the event on an annual basis. All the money raised will be used for the humanitarian needs of the people who have suffered from the military aggression in the east of Ukraine.
