Two Ukrainian films won at the Sundance International Film Festival in the USA. “Klondike” won the prize for the best direction in the world feature film category, and “The House of Chips” won the prize for the best direction in the world documentary film category.
Sundance is one of the most prestigious independent film festivals in the world. It is held every year at the end of January in Park City (Utah, USA).
The film “Klondike” by the Ukrainian director Maryna Er Horbach, created jointly with Turkey, tells the story of a family that found itself at the epicenter of the events after the plane crash of flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 in the village of Hrabovo, Donetsk region.
“Irka and Tolik are expecting the birth of their first child, the war violently bursts into their lives along with the wreckage of a downed Boeing. The woman refuses to evacuate, even when the village is captured by armed groups,” the authors say about the film.
Director Maryna Er Horbach emphasizes that this film is a reason to draw attention to the lives of people during the war in Ukraine.
“Klondike” is first of all a picture that reminds us that the war in Ukraine has been going on since 2014, and whether there is this summons in the Western media or not, the war does not stop,” she explains.
The second winning film “House of Chips” is a film jointly produced by Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Ukraine, directed by Simon Lereng Vilmont.
The film tells about several social workers in eastern Ukraine who work in a special orphanage and create a safe space for children.
Asad Safarov, the second director and line producer, noted on Facebook that the tape was created for 2.5 years.
“Over the past few days, the coolest specialized American media have written so many fantastic reviews of the film that our level of happiness is simply off the charts,” wrote Safarov. – And most importantly, almost every review of the film mentions Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. It is very important for Ukraine that the world should talk and know about it as much as possible.”
This is not the first time that Ukrainians have won at this festival. In 2020, the “Sundance” prize for the best direction of a documentary film was won by the Ukrainian director Iryna Tsylyk and her film “The Earth is Blue, Like an Orange”.
