From the Flying Dutch to the absurd Warmerdam

The Flying Dutch will visit Ukraine for the fifth time. This year’s program will include six works in different genres, namely Meet Me in Venice directed by Eddy Terstall, a road Movie about father’s and daughter’s journey across Europe; Atlantic by Jan-Willem van Ewijk, an adventure picture about a desperate Moroccan surfer; Lucia de B., a movie by Paula van der Oest based on one of the most notorious cases in the history of the Netherlands, nominated for Oscar 2015 as Best foreign language film; Gluckauf, a social melodrama about father and son by Remy van Heugten, Zomer by Colette Bothof, a love story between two girls; and Sergio Herman, Fucking Perfect by Willemiek Kluijfhout, a documentary portrait of a perfectionist cook.

The Film Week is organized jointly by Molodist Film Festival and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

All films will be shown in original language with Ukrainian subtitles. In the capital of Ukraine, the opening ceremony will be held at “Kyiv” cinema hall.

Another enticement for cinema lovers is the retrospective of Alex van Warmerdam on April 25-27.

Alex van Warmerdam (born August 14, 1952) is a Dutch director, actor, screenwriter, producer, and composer of cult status. Having started his career in theater, he has been present in the film industry for over 30 years. He wrote the script for his every film by himself. He was awarded the prestigious Prince Bernhard award for his contribution to the Kingdom’s culture.

Warmerdam’s style is recognized instantly. His movies, being full of irony and black humor, borderline to absurd, are at the same time visually perfect. These bizarre stories feature eccentric (or simply crazy) characters, often played by Alex himself. In Ukraine, all of his complete films will be shown: his debut Abel (1986), legendary The Northerners (1992, prize of the European Film Academy as the best young director), and The Dress (1996, FIPRESCI prize at Venice Film Festival), as well as Little Tony (1998), Waiter (2006), The Last Days of Emma Blank (2009), Borgman (2013), and his latest film – Schneider vs. Bax, a tragicomedy about a writer and an assassin (2015), which will open the retrospective.

Outside Kyiv, the Film Week and Warmerdam’s retrospective will take place in Odesa (at “Inoteatr”), Kharkiv (at “8 1/2” cinema), Lviv (at the Palace of Arts), and Vinnitsa (at “Family”).