Nosorih/Rhino, the most recent work of Oleg Sentsov, the symbol filmmaker of the Ukrainian national resistance and armed defender of besieged Kyiv, was screened on Thursday evening at the opening of the European Film Festival (26.FFE), in the Auditorium Hall of the National Museum of Art of Romania.
"Together with the partners from EUNIC Romania, together with the European cultural institutes present in Bucharest, we have decided that it is very important to send this message of solidarity and have a special focus in the international context so complicated for Ukraine, focus that is materialized also through the film this evening, but also through other Ukrainian film programmed throughout the days of the festival, coproductions between various European countries and Ukraine. I believe [...] that through such a program as is the European Film Festival it's necessary to send this message of solidarity and empathy," said the President of the Romanian Cultural Institute, Liviu Jicman, at the opening gala of the event.
The head of the European Commission Representation in Romania, Ramona Chiriac, hailed the return to cinema halls.
She said she is "a fan" and "long-term partner" of 26.FFE and pleaded for "our dialogue regarding the future of Europe" in the context of the war in Ukraine.
Robin Ujfalusi, the director of the Czech Cultural Center spoke about the importance of continuing the European Film Festival in physical format in cinema halls, while the charge d'affairs of Ukraine in Romania, Paun Rohovei, thanked organizers for the inclusion in the festival of the section dedicated to Ukrainian film.
He stated he is impressed and thanked Romanian authorities and the civil society, as well as Romanians for the aid granted "since the first days of this barbaric war brought by the regime in Moscow."
Also speaking at the event were the artistic director of 26.FFE, Catalin Olaru, and director Monica Stan, honorary ambassador of 26.FFE, the author of the event's promotional clip, present in the 26.FFE program with "Imaculat" - Immaculate, three-time award winner at the Venice Film Festival.
A Ukrainian, Polish, German production, the drama "Nosorih/Rhino" (2021) was selected last year in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival and since then was present in various festivals around the world.
The film has Oleg Sentsov as director and screenwriter, with Bogumil Godfrejow responsible for cinematography, Karolina Maciejewska for editing, and Andriy Ponomariov for music.
The film's cast features actors: Serhii Filimonov, Yevhen Chernykov, Yevhen Grygoriev, Alina Zievakova.
"Rhino" is produced by Arthouse Traffic, Cry Cinema, Apple Film Production, Ma.ja.de Fiction and distributed by Sofia Neves - WestEnd Films.
"This is not a film about delinquency, crimes and shootings. It's about a man who lived through that and know is carrying an inner burden that he's trying to face," said Oleg Sentsov.
The film's plot seems the usual. At first a petty thief, young Rhino quickly climbs in the hierarchy of criminals of 90's Ukraine. Rhino only knew force and cruelty, but without anything to lose. "Could he finally find a way to save himself?" is the question that the filmmakers launch.
Oleg Sentsov is a film director, writer, former political prisoner and activist for human rights. He was born in 1976 in Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine.
As a director, Sentsov is known for Gamer, which tells the story of a teenager who attends video game competitions and has a complicated life in an Ukrainian village.
Sentsov is convicted in Russia to 20 years in prison for terrorism after protesting in Kyiv's Independence Square against the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.
In 2018, while still imprisoned by Russian authorities, he received the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament for Freedom of Thought.
The filmmaker was released in 2019, as part of a prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv.
Presently, since the first days of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, he joined the territorial defence units of Ukraine.
26.FFE will take place between May 5 and 11, bringing together 31 feature films, of which 21 will be screened in the national premiere. Ukrainian productions will make up an important part of the 2022 edition.
In Bucharest, the films will be screened at the Elvire Popesco Cinema and at the Eforie Cinema. The Timisoara edition will be marked by the organization of a gala event on May 10, at the newly rehabilitated Cinema Victoria, where the screening of the film "Numbers" by director Oleg Sentsov will take place.
Apart from the section dedicated to Ukraine, 26.FFE proposes "new and very new films" that have been to prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, Rotterdam or Karlovy Vary. There are also event films, signed by big names in the world of cinematography such as Paolo Taviani, Christoffer Boe or the D'Innocenzo brothers.
26. The EFF will end, symmetrically, with Oleg Sentsov's dystopia - "Numbers", remotely directed from imprisonment with the help of his collaborator, Akhtem Seitablayev, and released in 2020.
The European Film Festival is organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute, with the support of the Representation of the European Commission in Romania, under the auspices of EUNIC Romania, in partnership with European embassies, centers and cultural institutes.AGERPRES
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