At the Hamburg Film Festival, running from 24 September to 3 October, the debut feature Camouflage by director Nikita Hibalenko will be screened in the Große Freiheit (Great Freedom) section. This is stated on the festival’s website.
According to the synopsis, the story is based on Hibalenko’s own experience. At the centre of the plot is 22-year-old Vitalii, who in 2021 leaves his mother Tetiana and his beloved sister Yevheniia in Ukraine. He dreams of a new life as a student in Munich. At first he finds it hard to find his place there, but he later joins a student theatre group. However, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vitalii is confronted with two harsh realities: the political situation in the world and his own family conflicts. Torn between them, he searches for an answer to the question of where he truly belongs. The film aims to explore themes of migration and identity.
The cast includes Artur Aliiev, Yelyzaveta Tsilyk, Anna Yaremchuk-Bobalo, Andrii Kudin, Alina Danko and Klara Lange.
The film was produced by the German company «kalekone film».
At the Hamburg festival, screenings will take place on 30 September at Metropolis and on 3 October at Hansa Filmstudio.
About Nikita Hibalenko:
- in 2013, he moved to Munich, where he completed an engineering degree;
- in 2019, he began studying directing at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (Munich University of Television and Film);
- in 2023, Hibalenko’s short film I See Their Bloom was nominated for the German Short Film Award, presented by Germany’s Minister of State for Culture and the Media.
About FilmFest Hamburg:
- an annual festival founded in 1992, now attended by around 60,000 people;
- since 2018, the Hamburg Producers Award für Deutsches Kino (Hamburg Producers Award for German Cinema) has been presented within the Große Freiheit section.