Two Ukrainian films were included in the list of national selection of candidates for the Academy Award by the Ukrainian Oscar Committee. Klondike directed by Maryna Er Horbach and Sniper. The White Raven directed by Marian Bushan.
The film Klondike depicts the story of a family that was at the epicenter of the events of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash on July 17, 2014, in the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region. When Irka and Tolik are expecting the birth of their first child, war violently bursts into their lives along with the wreckage of a downed Boeing. The woman refuses to evacuate, even when the village is overrun by armed groups.
In January 2022, the film received Sundance Film Festival Best Director award.
For me, this film is a ‘missile’ against the fear of Russia’s military aggression, first of all for myself. Klondike emerged at the intersection of powerlessness to stop the war and deep respect and gratitude for those who defend Ukraine. And this is also a dream of peace in Ukraine, says the director Maryna Er Horbach
Sniper. The White Raven was released on Independence Day 2022, in fact, it is the first Ukrainian film premiere since the beginning of the full-scale war.
The film is based on the real story of an eco-settler and teacher from Horlivka, who, after the occupation of his hometown in 2014, enrolled in a volunteer battalion and became a sniper. “We have a lot to tell Ukrainians and the whole world,” says the director Marian Bushan.
Now the Ukrainian Oscar Committee will check the film for compliance with the Academy requirements and hold a meeting with the official announcement of the candidate.
“Ukrainian Oscar Committee”(abbreviated as UOK) is a committee that selects films from Ukraine forAcademy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Until 2020, 13 films from Ukraine were submitted for nomination in this category, of which 12 were accepted. No film has yet been nominated for the main competition.Last year, Ukraine nominated the film Bad Roads by Nataliia Vorozhbyt, in 2021 Atlantis by Valentyn Vasyanovych, and in 2019 Homeward by Nariman Aliyev.
