This year, the film series Cinema Ost – Osteuropa im Spiegel des Films replaces the Russian Film Festival, which has been taking place since 2009, and focuses on the film cultures of the now sovereign successor states of the former Soviet Union. Six films from Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia and Russia will be shown.
The nineties of the last century were a time of dramatic upheaval for the countries of Eastern Europe. These changes continue to shape the societies to the present day and form the central theme of the film selection for Cinema Ost under the motto “Um-Brüche”.
All films will be shown in the Schloßtheater (Melcherstraße 81, 48147 Münster) in the original language with German subtitles (“January” with English subtitles).
03 March, 5 pm. The opening film is “Scissors, Rock, Grenade“. A nostalgic coming-of-age film from Ukraine in the midst of the upheaval of the post-Soviet 1990s by Iryna Tsilyl. The screening will be followed by an online film discussion with lead actor Vladyslav Baliuk.
Tickets here.
06 March, 5 pm. In “Blackbird in a Blackberry Bush“, the convinced bachelorette Etero breaks with the patriarchal ideas in her village and finds her own path to happiness at the age of almost 50. The film by Elene Naveriani won the main prize at the renowned Sarajevo Film Festival.
Tickets here.
08 March, 8 pm. “Empire V” tells a fantastic vampire love story as a biting satire on Russia’s power elite – with the resistant rap star Oxxxymoron and banned by the Russian Ministry of Culture. The film Ginzburg was produced in the USA and is still not allowed to be shown in Russia. The screening will be followed by a film discussion with director Victor Ginzburg.
Tickets here.
10 March, 7pm. In “January”, the world of nineteen-year-old aspiring cameraman Jazis is thrown into chaos when he is drawn into the peaceful popular protests against the attempted takeover of his country by the Soviet army. Viesturs Kairiš’s film was nominated as the Latvian entry for the 2023 Oscars.
Tickets here
13 March, 7 pm. The Ukrainian film “Babyn Yar. Context” is more than a rupture. It documents the unimaginably inhumane massacre of the Jewish population by the German “security police”. Director Sergei Loznitsa succeeds in penetrating the complex events surrounding the crime between 1941 and 1943.
Tickets here
17 March, 7 pm. The Georgian Stalin satire “Remorse” from 1984, a film that foreshadowed the coming upheavals of perestroika and challenged us to re-evaluate the past, will be screened at the end of Cinema Ost. Tengiz Abuladze’s film was not shown internationally until 1987 and is now regarded as one of the pioneers of fundamental social change in the Soviet Union.
Tickets here.
