Today, the long-awaited movie of Roman Bondarchuk “Volcano” will be released in Ukraine. On the eve in Kyiv cinema theatre a press screening of the film was held. Media had opportunity to learn all the details about film shooting from creative team personally. The world premiere of the film took place on July 1, 2018 at the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary. During this time, the movie has already received eight international awards. In Ukraine, “Volcano” was shown twice: at OIFF 2018 and at New German Cinema Film Festival.
Let us remind you the movie plot. A series of odd coincidences has left Lukas, an interpreter for a military checkpoint inspection tour, stranded near a remote town in the south Ukrainian steppe. With nowhere to turn, this city boy finds shelter at the home of a colorful local named Vova. With Vova as his guide, Lukas is confronted by an anarchist universe beyond his imagination, a world in which life seems utterly detached from any identifiable structure. Fascinated by his host and his host’s daughter Marushka, Lukas’s contempt for provincial life slowly melts away and sets him on a quest for a happiness he never knew could exist.
“Volcano” is the feature debut of acclaimed director Roman Bondarchuk, known for his documentaries “Euromaidan. Rough Cut” (2014), “Ukrainian Sheriffs” (2015) and “Dixie Land” (2016).
Sound engineer Sergiy Stepansky made his debut as actor by playing Lukas. Vova was played by Viktor Zhdanov, a well-known to Ukrainian audience by the film “Cyborgs’” personage with sign call “The Old Man”.
For the musical component according to beautiful new born tradition of Ukrainian cinema “DakhaBrakha” ethno-band is responsible.
Director Roman Bondarchuk talked to the “Journalist” correspondent about the movie:
“The idea of the film arose during the observations of the real uncle Vova: we wrote the script from him. I listened to him, wrote down his stories about myths and mirages in the steppe, various incidents that happened to him on an amateur camera. Gradually, for me, this formed into a picture of the world, which is significantly different from my idea of how people live in cities. The written episodes formed into one line of OSCE observer, who came there and tries first to get out of this reality, and then to interact with it.
For me there are no philosophical messages – it is an attempt to hear these people, to talk with them, to get closer to them. Of course, not everything in the film is reality; there is a part of phantasmagoria and magical realism. I did not see with my own eyes tornadoes and mirages, but I heard about it from many people.
I don’t like the idea of closed finals, which cannot end with anything interesting except a wedding. Fairy tales end like this: they got married and lived happily ever after. And this is the beginning of a new story. In my own life, I do not see the completed form, so I do not consider it right to build complete forms for my hero.
You can believe or not in the mystical stories of the disappearance of people. But this is a fact: often seasonal workers who come there do not return. What happens to them is not exactly known. This earth absorbs people, and how exactly – in the film we have one of the versions.
All the scenes were complex and easy at the same time. Because we had a lot of types, non-professional actors who gave energy and formed the movie, their texture and experience, all this moved the film. On the other hand there is the story of how Lukas falls into a hole. First we have been searching for the hole for long time. Then we asked Serhiy to stay there, to feel these emotions, first of disagreement and despair, and finally, acceptance. He spent a lot of time there and even broke a tooth trying to get out of there. This is a story of experience for him as well as for me. It is impossible to give the task to the actor: play this scene that way. You need to go deep to your inner emotions but then there is a problem to get out of it. This is the psychology that you need to master. We all invented this film together. According to our plan and idea, many film characters live there, they are not professional actors. This was demanded by the story and plot of the film. ”
The film “Volcano” is definitely worth watching: not a banal Ukrainian movie cinema for those who are “in the fifth year of the seven-year cycle” or those who crossed its borders or are on their way to it.
Text and photo: Yaroslava Matvieienko
Watch more in the “Journalist” video story:
As the Journalist reported “The First Company” documentary movie premiere took place in Kyiv.
As the Journalist reported “The First Company” documentary movie premiere took place in Kyiv.
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