Spring marks director Rostyslav Kyrpychenko’s feature film debut and was produced as a co-production between Ukraine, Lithuania and France.
The film tells the story of a 35-year-old priest tasked with preparing the bodies of slain civilians for burial in mass graves, but who instead helps their families identify the victims and arrange proper burials.
Kyrpychenko was born in Lithuania before moving with his family to Ukraine, where he spent his childhood. He later relocated to Paris, where he studied film directing at the French national film school La Fémis.
His feature-length documentary debut was One, Angarskaia Street, in which Kyrpychenko returns to Dnipro, where he grew up, ten months after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion and reflects on memories of his former life.
The Cannes Film Festival will run from 12 to 23 May.
Ukrainian director, war correspondent and Oscar winner Mstyslav Chernov will chair the jury for the L’Œil d’or (Golden Eye) award.
The Ukrainian Institute will present a delegation of producers as part of the Producers Network programme: Yevhen Rachkovskyy (TABOR production), Oleksandra Bratyshchenko (ELERON PICTURES), Valeriya Sochivets (Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema, CUC), Svitlana Yatsynich (SALAMEYA FILM), and Diana Nazaruk (Mellivora Production LLC).
The Cannes Docs programme will feature the project Crossing Oxus by director Svitlana Lishchynska and producer Olha Gibelinda, a co-production with Sweden and Belgium.
Director Maksym Nakonechnyy (The Butterfly’s Vision) will present his new feature film project, The Earth Is Flat — I Flew Around It and Saw It.
In the Producers on the Move programme organised by European Film Promotion, Ukraine will be represented by producer Oleksandra Kostina (BOSONFILM), nominated by the Ukrainian Institute.
During the Cannes Film Market, the Ukrainian National Stand, organised by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and the State Film Agency of Ukraine, will operate throughout the event. The programme includes presentations and panel discussions on film festivals in Ukraine, working meetings with international partners, as well as networking opportunities with producers and representatives of film funds.
The film market will also feature a screening of the short film Before the Light, directed by Ruslan Bohdan, which tells the story of the families of Ukrainian prisoners of war.