The elite Kyiv Naval Political College operates in a city without access to the sea. The first Soviet aircraft carrier, the Kyiv, became the flagship of the Northern Fleet. The school’s students, future political officers of the Soviet navy, go on a long navigation voyage; meanwhile, at their alma mater the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy opens. Focusing on the history of the institution’s changing ideological functions, Under the Sign of Anchor explores the complex and sometimes paradoxical connections between war and culture, the Soviet past and the present. The film is based on materials from film archives from the time of the collapse of the USSR and the first years of Ukraine’s independence.
CREW:
Director: Taras Spivak
Producer: Lyuba Knorozok, Taras Spivak
Cinematographer: Roman Khimei (combined cinematography)
Sound: Andriy Borysenko
Production
Kinotron Group / Група Кінотрон
Director
Taras Spivak
Taras Spivak is a Kyiv-based director and editor. Until 2022, Taras studied at the Department of Cultural Studies of the National University of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and his interests include media archaeology, semiotics, and psychoanalysis. From 2018 to 2020, he was co-curating the cine-club of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 2021, Taras and his fellow film enthusiasts worked on cataloguing the archive of the Kyivnaukfilm studio. Since 2021 he has worked in film production, specialising in editing non-fiction films and organising post-production. Using found footage and objects in his directing, Spivak works towards engaging in a dialogue with the traditions of film essay, political film, and scientific cinema.Selected Filmography
Chornobyl 22 (2023) — editor; Infinity According to Florian (2022) — assistant editor; I Did Not Want to Make A War Film (2022) — editor; Butterfly Vision (2022) — post-production coordinator & VFX artist; Belarus 23.34 (2023) — editor
