Maksym Nakonechnyi’s Butterfly Vision, which was selected for the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes this year, is one of the Ukrainian films being screened as part of a special programme at the CinEast festival. Nour Films-Wild Bunch

Maksym Nakonechnyi’s Butterfly Vision, which was selected for the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes this year, is one of the Ukrainian films being screened as part of a special programme at the CinEast festival. Nour Films-Wild Bunch

The 15th CinEast film festival, which holds its official opening on Thursday evening, is dedicating a special programme to Ukrainian filmmakers and artists, raising funds for charity and giving free entry to Ukrainian refugees.

CinEast will be screening six feature-length films by Ukrainian filmmakers, including its opening film, Luxembourg Luxembourg by Antonio Lukich. A comedy about the journey of twin brothers from Ukraine to Luxembourg, the film is also up for the young talent award and was selected in the Orizzonti competition at the recent Venice film festival. Lukich was a guest of the festival in 2019.

Other films in the programme include Klondike by Maryna Er Gorbach, Pamfir by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, Butterfly Vision by Maksym Nakonechnyi How Is Katia? by Christina Tynkevych and the documentary One Day in Ukraine by Volodymyr Tykhyy.

The programme also includes a Ukrainian short films evening, at Neimënster on 12 October, featuring recent documentary films about Ukraine, giving some context of the current war, will be followed by a debate.

Exhibitions and music

Two of the five projects at the festival’s main photography exhibition, Communities at Neimënster, also have Ukrainian context. The contributions of Ukrainian photographer Alina Smutko and Brendan Hoffman, a US photographer and reporter based in Ukraine, showcase the solidarity and resilience of the local communities facing human dramas, destruction and shortages.

A separate exhibition, Chameleon Women from Ukraine, is installed at the Ancien Cinema in Vianden. It mixes photography and art by the Alyona Sukhorukova, who fled the war and is currently residing in Luxembourg.

Ukrainian music is represented by the electroacoustic DZ’OB ensemble at Neimënster on 19 October and folk-rock band Joryj Kloc at Rotondes on 20 October--which is the closing concert of this year’s festival.

CinEast also continues to run its CinEast4Ukraine charity project, launched immediately after the outbreak of the war in February in order to support those in need in the war-torn country. Funds raised during the festival will be passed on to partner association LUkraine asbl and used to help victims of the war. The goal is to finance . The organisation recently passed the milestone of having sent 10 ambulances to Nikopol, 48 km south-west of Zaporizhzhya.

In addition, CinEast offers free access to festival screenings and to a majority of special events to Ukrainian refugees residing in Luxembourg.