The 8 Ukrainian features include the world premieres of Oxygen Station (dir. Ivan Tymchenko) in the Official Selection Competition, and Lessons of Tolerance (dir. Arkasha Nepytaliuk) in the Critics' Picks competition. 20 Days In Mariupol, Ukraine's nomination for the Best International Film Oscar, will also appear in the Doc@PÖFF documentary section.
PÖFF presents an audiovisual art project Murals at the Opening Ceremony. The nine-minute installation film by Banksy was premiered at Cannes 2023, and confronts the viewer with the war in Ukraine through Banksy's paintings on destroyed buildings in the residential areas. "This is our letter to the Ukrainians, to our friends and colleagues, to the people whose bombed-out homes we scanned, to the heroes fighting in the trenches today - we remember everything and we won't be silent," say project authors Artem Ivanenko, Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro.
Festival director Tiina Lokk comments: "In a world where devastation is becoming more and more frequent, we must not normalize the unilateral inhuman Russian invasion of Ukraine. That is why we feel the urge to highlight the ongoing war by presenting Murals at our Opening Ceremony, and express our solidarity by showing record numbers of Ukrainian films."
The festival has also not forgotten its Ukrainian audience, which has recently grown as a result of the war. As the organizers view the engagement of Ukrainian audiences as a long-term project, they have partially duplicated their homepage into Ukrainian. The new section includes film recommendations and interviews with selected filmmakers, as well as general information about the festival. Ukrainian print materials will also be distributed in the festival areas.
The full line-up of Ukrainian features:
- 20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine, 2023), dir. Mstyslav Chernov. Programme: Doc@PÖFF
- Eastern Front (Latvia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, USA, 2023), dir. Vitaliy Manskiy, Yevhen Titarenko. Programme: Baltic Film Competition
- Forever-Forever (Ukraine, Netherlands, 2023). dir. Anna Buryachkova. Programme: Best Of Festivals
- Lessons Of Tolerance (Ukraine, 2023; World Premiere). dir. Arkasha Nepytaliuk. Programme: Critics' Picks Competition
- Motherland (Sweden, Ukraine, Norway, 2023). dir. Alexander Mihalkovich, Hanna Badziaka. Programme: Flowers are not silent. Resistance films of Belarus
- Oxygen Station (Ukraine, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia 2023; World Premiere). dir. Ivan Tymchenko. Programme: Official Selection - Competition
- Stepne (Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, 2023). dir. Maryna Vroda. Programme: Best Of Festivals
-We Will Not Fade Away (Ukraine, France, Poland, USA). dir. Alisa Kovalenko. Programme: Doc@Just, Children's Rights Programme
