Toronto film festival screenings of "Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom" announced

Toronto film festival screenings of "Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom" announced

Publication date: 26/08/2015

SAT
SEP 12
11:15 AMScotiabank Theatre
SAT
SEP 12
7:45 PMThe Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
TUE
SEP 15
9:45 PMScotiabank Theatre
THU
SEP 17
6:45 PMScotiabank Theatre
SUN
SEP 20
9:30 PMAGO

Thom Powers (TIFF Docs) about the movie:

"Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom" supplies a visceral, in-depth look at the bloody Ukrainian uprising in Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), which took place over several months in late 2013 and early 2014 and triggered a cataclysm that continues to unfold today. Focusing on the three months of street battles that led to the removal of President Viktor Yanukovych, the film reminds us how documentaries, in the tradition of works such as "The Battle of Chile" and "The Square", can have an effect different from that of daily reportage by taking more time on the craft of storytelling.

Ukraine's geographic position between Russia and the rest of Europe exerts conflicting pressures on its culture and politics. After making promises to join the European Union, Yanukovych abruptly changed direction in November 2013 and turned toward an alignment with Russia. Protestors took the streets chanting "Ukraine is part of Europe," in a series of peaceful demonstrations that were eventually met with a violent crackdown by the government's Berkut special police force.

Filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky makes these complicated politics more approachable with vibrant characters, brisk pacing, and well-deployed graphics. He draws on multiple footage sources to chronicle the escalation of events. In this era of sophisticated cameras being more widely available, the footage possesses a higher standard of on-the-scene image-making than what we were used to seeing even a few years ago. Afineevsky shows an artistic eye in his shot selection and editing, and brings clarity to chaotic scenarios. His film captures a striking palette of vivid colours and evocative faces against a wintry landscape.

As the Winter on Fire begins, we hear a command from an unidentified voice: "Do something for the revolution!" Another replies, "I'm filming."

Source: tiff.net

 

About the movie:

Filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky, Netflix, Afineevsky-Tolmor Production, UkrStream.TV та SPN Production offers a visceral, in-depth look at the bloody Ukrainian uprising in Kiev’s Maidan Square in the winter of 2013-14 that resulted in the removal of Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych.

Director:

Evgeny Afineevsky

Countries of Production:

Ukraine/USA/United Kingdom

Year of presentation:2015
Language(s):

Russian, Ukrainian, English

Premiere Status:

Canadian Premiere

Runtime:

102 minutes

Rating:

STC

Production Company:

Netflix, Afineevsky-Tolmor Production, UkrStream.TV, SPN Production, Passion Pictures, Campbell Grobman Films, Rock Paper Scissors

Executive Producer:

Lisa Nishimura, John Battsek, Lati Grobman, Angus Wall, Adam Del Deo, Christa Campbell, David Dinerstein, Andrew Ruhemann, Dennis L. Kogod, Nadine Khapsalis Kogod, Bohdan Batruch

Producer:

Evgeny Afineevsky, Den Tolmor

Cinematographer:

Alex Kashpur, Andriy Havryshchuk, Arturas Morozovas, Constantin Shandybin, Damian Kolodiy, Dmytro Patyutko, Eduard Georgadze, Galyna Sadomtseva-Nabaranchuk, Halyna Lavrinets, Ielizaveta Smith, Kirill Kniazev, Inna Goncharova, Kostyantyn Ignatchuk, Lizogub Khrystyna, Maxim Bernakevich, Maria Komar, Oleg Balaban, Oleg Tandalov, Oles Chernyuk, Pavlo Peleshok, Ruslan Ganushchak, Vyacheslav Tsvetkov, Viktor Kozhevnikov, Vladimir Makarevich, Vyacheslav Poliantcev, Vyacheslav Tihonsky, Yuriy Krivenko, Zhenya Shynkar

Editor:

Jinx Godfrey, Mikhail Kuznetsov, Victor Greenchuk, Alina Gorlova, Kevin Klauber, Will Znidaric

Music:

Jasha Klebe

Canadian Distributor:Netflix
US Distributor:

Netflix

Primary Publicist:

Ginsberg Libby