Meeting will be held in english

Pryazovia, or the Cis-Azov region, is a geographic area on the north coast of the Sea of Azov, located in southeastern Ukraine, with Melitopol, Berdyansk, and Mariupol as its largest cities. Despite facing brutal Russian imperial expansion and occupation, the territory remains tightly bound through the sensuous connections to the lived experiences of those forcibly uprooted. Although being factually occupied, the intimately bound places host a tangible mental work of rediscoveringthe misunderstood past and reimagining the future in a radical way.

The screening includes two experimental films, which maintain to politicize these mental connections. While Vasyl (Tkachenko) Lyakh uncovers oral histories and private video archives as sites for excavating the colonial past of the region, Sashko Protyah’s fictional diary ventures into the cinematic expression of hope for its future, a powerful political affect. Both are members of Freefilmers, a cine-movement that combines filmmaking with volunteer activities, thereby extending the agency of cinema to rebel against and care for the depicted state of affairs.

Conveyed by Olexii Kuchanskyi

Olexii Kuchanskyi is an independent film curator and a PhD researcher at eikones—Centre for the Theory and History of the Image, University of Basel. Her research focuses on the history of Soviet media. Her curatorial activity primarily concerns decentralizing, decolonial, and feminist moving image practices related to the (former) Soviet contexts. She has (co-)curated film programs and exhibitions for the Kyiv Biennial, Coalmine—Raum für Fotografie, e-flux Film & Screening Room, BAK—basis voor actuele kunst, among others.