Thought is what really matters

It would be wrong to say that Ukrainian television is hopeless. From time to time, it produces something worthwhile out of its maze of channels – but this is strictly regimented and mostly shown at nighttime. A classical example is the program Document on the 1+1 channel, hosted by Larysa Denysenko and Anatolii Yerema and attended by artists and academics, which goes on the air at midnight on weekdays. Even that is something: until recently, Document kept a very low profile indeed – it was broadcast between 3 and 5 a.m.

Meanwhile, the Culture channel, founded in 2004 to be a motive force of TV cultural programs in Ukraine, is now in a far-from-motive condition, above all, in technological terms. Even a reader not initiated in the mysteries of TV production will perhaps be stunned by the fact that programs on the Culture channel are, in fact, filmed with two cameras, one of which breaks down all the time.

However, the point is that the channel still works and manages to put out its own super-exclusive product (for example, a lengthy interview with Pavlo Zahrebelny), which Ukrainian society will still need to appreciate (or at least see with their own eyes).

Also noteworthy is the format which can be approximately classified as “dialogues between wise people on wise things.”

The program Dialogue quite fits in with this format. The channel’s senior editor Tamara BOIKO is, in fact, the one who created it. She suggested that the dialogue between Oxana Pachlovska and the Den/The Day’s editor in chief Larysa Ivshyna, already held on Den’s pages earlier this year, be repeated on television.

Incidentally, dialogues like this are first of all interesting because they do not follow a carefully-worded script. It is a sort of an improvisation accompanied by the pragmatic tune of intellect, a play of thoughts and reflections. And even if a dialogue pivots on the same theme, the latter never moves in a circle, and well-balanced reflections turn into a gripping spectacle.

Meanwhile, The Day asked Boiko to answer a few questions, including this one: Why is Ukrainian television stubbornly ignoring the format of “wise dialogues between wise people?”

“Today’s television prefers a quick change of pictures and dynamics,” Boiko says. “Instead, such dialogues are popularly known as ‘talking heads.’ Incidentally, Kira Pitoieva, a Bulgakov Museum associate, once said to this: ‘I so much like ‘talking heads’ and so much dislike the bustling headlessness!’

“Only we have a recorded dialogue with Anatol Perepadia and a dialogue between Myroslav Popovych and Serhii Krymsky. The Dialogue program on the Culture channel is the only TV place where you can see David Borovsky. We filmed this program after the premiere of the play My Mocking Happiness, when he was in Kyiv for the last time. Borovsky was then in a good mood and told us some unique things, for example, how he worked with Borys Balaban, an Ivan Franko Theater stage director and a pupil of Les Kurbas. Borovsky owed everything he had to Kyiv, i.e., Ukrainian culture.

“What really matters in such programs is the thought. People do not just express their profound thoughts on the screen. These people are charming, for they are wise. Why is the Nostalgia channel so popular now? Because there is a personality there. And what can be more interesting than a personality? We are trying to draw attention to philosophy, serious literature, and historical themes. In particular, Taras Chukhlib and Halyna Yarova, director of the Museum of the Hetmanate, spoke about Mazepa on our channel. It is difficult to film such people because they are usually very busy, but they show trust in us and never turn down our proposals. Myroslav Popovych is ‘our man’ indeed. He recorded 26 programs for the Culture channel, under the general title ‘Outlines of the History of Ukrainian Culture,’ which we keep broadcasting at different times, because people must see and know this.”

Very few of our TV managers seem to be aware that Ukrainians need this kind of programs.

“How can we possibly lose our intellectual wealth?

“I have just begun working on a program about Heorhii Yakutovych. We met his son Serhii and reflected very long about who can recount the story of his father. It turned out that all those who could share their reminiscences had died.”

And they died unheard.

“Yes. So, frightened with this, I immediately filmed a program with Yurii Yura, a son of Hnat Yura. This program will soon go on the air.

“I did not know until recently that Dmytro Miliutenko’s wife is still safe and sound. She is almost 90, but she still plays at the Ivan Franko Theater and even teaches.

“Although we have very poor acoustics, we are the only channel that broadcasts symphonic concerts. To obtain adequate sound, there should be microphones in front of every instrument in the orchestra. But we have only one microphone.

“We have absolutely no funds to purchase films.

“There are no studios at our disposal, and we have just two cameras.

“One of them went out of order recently.

“We don’t have an archive. In fact, we have to set it up on our own.

“The state is taking the same attitude to the Culture channel as it is to culture in general.”

Incidentally, the question of public broadcasting emerged again on the eve of the elections. How do you think the Culture channel should fit in with the system of public television?

“I think the Culture channel should exist as a totally self-sufficient unit and be exclusively devoted to high art.”

The Culture channel will broadcast the dialogue between Oxana Pachlovska and Larysa Ivshyna on Friday, February 19, at 19.15, and rebroadcast it on Saturday, February 20, at 9.20.