UKRAINIAN FILM SUNDAY – 22nd OCTOBER

This Sunday, Nataliya Valda, a Ukrainian film curator and film festival director, presents: Why Am I Alive?

Based on the story, “Now I am a Turk, not a Cossack” by Yevhen Mitko, this story is told by a 10 year old boy, Zhenya from Mariupol. Pre-war, life in a small Ukrainian town on the shores of the Azov Sea consists of a good family life, quarrelsome neighbours, amateur opera, the persecution of religion and a love story! 17 year old Frosya and Lyonchyk fall in love for the first time and with passion and a dream of marriage. But Frosya is Ukrainian and Lyonchyk is Jewish. It is too difficult for the girl’s father to reconcile with the boy’s family. Oleksiy Ivanovich is a good man with strong Orthodox beliefs. How can he give up his beliefs and accommodate different religious views into his family?

Duration: 120mins

Rating: 15