During August, Docudays UA will screen its festival hits in Skvorechnik. These include the film revelation about the famous activist duo The Yes Men and the audience favorite about brave free-diving journalists.
Skvorechnik is a unique place for Ukraine. It’s a social restaurant on the shore of the river Dnipro, whose founders demonstrate with their activities, how and why you should care about the environment. In particular, they sort their waste, maintain the territory of Trukhaniv island, regularly organize educational events by the Green School and the WWF. And the screenings by Docudays UA also continue the environmental series of events in the Skvorechnik’s schedule.
"Climate change is one of those issues that can cause you to stay in bed all day. And humor is one of the best weapons to address topics that seem overwhelming... I think we care about the guys even more when we experience their struggles in both a comedic and realistic light,” says Laura Nix, the director of The Yes Men Are Revolting, in one of her interviews. This film will open the month of documentary cinema on the Dnipro shore. It is a story about the famous activist duo, which for two decades has been creating exciting mystifications in the media in order to reveal crimes of corporations.
Just like the other films of the special festival program GENERATION C. (GENERATION OF CONSUMPTION), the film Out of Fashion by Jaak Kilmi and Lennart Laberenz shows to our contemporaries what influence we could have if we really wanted to. The directors tell the story of an Estonian designer Reet Aus who practices upcycling, a popular contemporary trend, and decides to go through the full production cycle of a pair of jeans from the mass brand ZARA: from cotton plantations in South America and a textile factory in Bangladesh and to the European chemical lab, where the unpleasant truth about the quality of our favorite garments is revealed.
The third film will be the revelatory investigation by three intrepid free-diving journalists, Gaya, Tanya and Julia, into the global trade in wild sea mammals. This story was the audience favorite at the Docudays UA 2017. As we watch Born to Be Free by Gayane Petrosyan, we go to the most remote corners of Russia, witness the shocking treatment that whales, dolphins and walruses are subjected to, and learn what is at the heart of this cruel international business.
The month of screenings will be concluded with one of the last summer’s hits. It is a story about the largest environmental movement of the world. The catching and honest How to Change the World by Jerry Rothwell, tells us about an initiative born thanks to a few enthusiasts. In 1971, a group of friends sailed into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captured the world’s imagination, giving birth to Greenpeace and defining the modern green movement.
The events in Skvorechnik (Trukhaniv island, Central beach) will be moderated by the program coordinator Darya Bassel. Entrance is free, but we welcome contributions of UAH 50.
August 3, 9:30 p.m.
The Yes Men Are Revolting by Laura Nix and The Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno)
August 10, 9:30 p.m.
Out of Fashion by Jaak Kilmi and Lennart Laberenz
August 17, 9:30 p.m.
Born to Be Free by Gayane Petrosyan
August 24, 9:30 p.m.
How to Change the World by Jerry Rothwell
Header photo: Born to Be Free by Gayane Petrosyan
