Filmvorführung: "Eurodonbas" - Instytut Pileckiego

Ein Film, der mit sowjetischen Mythen aufräumt und zeigt, wie zentral die Stadt vor 100 Jahren wirtschaftlich inn Europa verankert war.

Movie screening: "Eurodonbas"

07.11, 18.30 | Pariser Platz 4A, 10117 Berlin | Registration: https://forms.gle/XWSrWYe83gxDnzPb9

The investigative documentary "Eurodonbas" aims to debunk Soviet myths and tell that more than 100 years ago, Donbas was an integral part of the European economy.

On Monday, November 9, at 18:30, the premiere of the documentary film "EuroDonbas" about the history of the formation of eastern Ukraine and debunking stereotypes about the region of Ukraine will take place. Especially for the premiere, Ukrainian artist Serafima Brig will create an installation on the same theme. The screening will be followed by a public discussion on "Stigmatization of Eastern Ukraine by the international community" with the participation of Korniy Hrytsyuk (film director), Ihor Kozlovsky (historian and former political prisoner of the "Izolyatsia" concentration camp), moderated by Ukrainian philosopher Kateryna Demerza.

The film will be screened for the first time for the Berlin audience. To expand the story, the screening room will be complemented by an installation by Serafima Bryg, a Ukrainian artist originally from eastern Ukraine. She will rethink the layers of stereotypes about the region of Ukraine due to centuries of propaganda and erasure of the Ukrainian identity of the regions.

Eastern Ukraine has often been stigmatized by the international community, where scholars, journalists and public figures have often used propaganda narratives. This is the topic we propose to discuss with the invited experts. Among them: Korniy Hrytsyuk - an artist and film director originally from Donetsk, Ihor Kozlovsky - a historian, expert on the history of eastern Ukraine, who was detained in January 2016 by the militants of the so-called DPR for his pro-Ukrainian position and was imprisoned until December 2017, including in the "Izolyatsia" concentration camp. The event will be moderated by Ukrainian philosopher Kateryna Demerza

Film crew:

Director - Kornii Hrytsiuk
Script by Kornii Hrytsiuk and Anna Palenchuk
DoP - Bohdan Kinashchuk
Motion designer - Zhanna Laka
Colour correction, technical support - Andrii Ilin
Composer - Anton Dehtiarov
Sound director - Vasyl Yavtushenko
Editor of the trailer - Denys Zakharov

Synopsis:

Donbas is a region in Eastern Ukraine that is currently recognized worldwide due to the fierce war with Russia for the accession of this territory into the "Russian world".
However, at the end of the XIX century, Donbas was the center of Belgian, German, French, British, and American settlements, and housed entrepreneurs from different countries who built architecture, and enterprises, and introduced progressive technologies in this territory.
After the revolution of 1917, and the Soviet’s rise to power, the factories were taken from the European and North American settlers and nationalized, effectively destroying the memory of European history there. Since February 24th, 2022, Russian troops have been continuing in their efforts to sabotage these buildings of European heritage, finalizing what their ancestors did not have time to do during the Soviet Union.
The documentary film ‘Eurodonbas’ shows the foreign heritage of Mariupol, Lysychansk, Druzhkivka, and New York. The film team discovered and brought animated the unique, but lesser-known archival materials of Donbas during the XIX century. Experts, historians, and locals tell their tales and pieces of evidence about the region’s history, which was carefully destroyed and distorted by Soviet authorities who worked to erase the legacies of European entrepreneurs like John Hughes, Ernest Solvay, and Henrich Laude.
Unfortunately, these cities of Donbas and their European heritage as they were in the film will remain unseen. Soon after filming, almost all of them were destroyed by Russian missiles.

PRODUCED BY 435 FILMS UKRAINIAN PRODUCTION COMPANY WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE UKRAINIAN STATE FILM AGENCY AND THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND INFORMATION POLICY OF UKRAINE

Year of production — 2022
Country of production — Ukraine
Genre of the film — Investigative documentary