The first feature film by Ukrainian director Anna Buryachkova (‘When We Were 15’, music video for STASIK — ‘Heros die’) ‘NAZAVZHDY-NAZAVZHDY’ (FOREVER-FOREVER) will be shown in the ‘Horizons Extra’ (Orizzonti Extra) program of the Venice Film Festival. This section features ‘nine works with the aim of innovating and demonstrating creative originality in the relationship with the public they are meant for’.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival, which runs from August 30 to September 9
The plot of ‘NAZAVZHDY-NAZAVZHDY’ (FOREVER-FOREVER) is set in Kyiv in the late 1990s. After transferring from a downtown high school, Tonia joins a new badass gang of youngsters. They spend time together, roaming around Kyiv’s post-socialist suburbs, having fun and getting in trouble.
Soon, Tonia falls in love with Zhurik, and her friendship with Lera makes her feel a longing for her brother Sania. And she finds herself tangled up in an alluring secret love triangle. But Tonia’s abusive past still haunts her, challenging this newfound friendship and romance.
#BiennaleCinema2023 #Venezia80 #OrizzontiExtra pic.twitter.com/SrUsqnsSWB
— La Biennale di Venezia (@la_Biennale) July 25, 2023
Buryachkova wrote the script of the film together with Marina Stepanska (‘Falling’). Alina Cheban, Zachary Shadrin, Arthur Aliiev, Yelyzaveta Tsilyk, Daria Zhykharska and Daria Malakhova starred in the film.
Films such as ‘Bota Jone’ by French director Luàna Bajrami, ‘The Rescue’ by Italian director Daniela Goggi, ‘In the Land of Saints and Sinners’ by American director Robert Lorenz, ‘Day of the Fight’ by British director Jack Huston, ‘Felicita’ by Italian director Micaela Ramazzotti, ‘Pet Shop Boys’ by American director Olmo Schnabel, ‘Stolen’ by Indian director Karan Tejpal and ‘L’Homme d’Argile’ by French director Anaïs Tellenne will compete alongside Buryachkova in the ‘Horizons Extra’ (Orizzonti Extra) section of the competition.
The following films were selected by the jury for the main program:
“Comandante,” Edoardo De Angelis (Italy) – Opening Film
“The Promised Land,” Nikolaj Arcel (Denmark, Germany, Sweden)
“Dogman,” Luc Besson (France)
“Le Bête,” Bertrand Bonello (France, Canada)
“Hors-Saison,” Stéphane Brizé (France)
“Enea,” Pietro Castellitto (Italy)
“Maestro,” Bradley Cooper (U.S.)
“Priscilla,” Sofia Coppola (U.S., Italy)
“Finally Dawn,” Saverio Costanzo (Italy)
“Lubo,” Giorgio Diritti (Italy)
“Origin,” Ava DuVernay (U.S.)
“The Killer,” David Fincher (U.S.)
“Memory,” Michel Franco (Mexico, U.S.)
“Io Capitano,” Matteo Garrone (Italy, Belgium)
“Evil Does Not Exist,” Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
“The Green Border,” Agnieszka Holland (Czech Republic, Poland, Belgium)
“The Theory of Everything,” Timm Kröger (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
“Poor Things,” Yorgos Lanthimos (U.K.)
“El Conde,” Pablo Larrain (Chile)
“Ferrari,” Michael Mann (U.S.)
“Adagio,” Stefano Sollima (Italy)
“Woman Of,” Malgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert (Poland, Sweden)
“Holly,” Fien Torch (Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France)
In 2022, Ukraine was represented at the Venice Film Festival by Antonio Lukich’s film ‘Luxembourg, Luxembourg’. The film was selected for the second most important section, ‘Horizons’ (Orizzonti).
Due to the SAG-AFTRA strike since July 14, Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera plans to invite European and Asian directors and actors instead of American ones.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Italian editorial office pointed out the presence of such directors as Hayao Miyazaki (‘Spirited Away’), Pablo Larraín (‘Spencer’), Bertrand Bonello (‘Zombi Child’), Matteo Garrone (‘Gomorrah’), Quentin Dupieux (‘Rubber’) and Roman Polanski (‘Rosemary’s Baby’) at the film festival. However, according to World of Reel sources, Hayao Miyazaki will not be shown at the Venice Film Festival with his animation ‘How Do You Live?’.
‘It will be a pan-European festival, — Barbera commented on the new direction of the film festival in a THR article. — Let’s try to figure out what American producers intend to do, but in the meantime we are taking action to create an alternative program’.
According to the same source, the organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival — which takes place from Sept. 7-17, overlapping as usual with Venice — are similarly preparing for the possibility that there will be a limited presence of U.S. films at TIFF. Experts predict that the actors’ and screenwriters’ strike will end before September.
The Venice Film Festival jury also did not include any American actors or actresses. Under the direction of jury president Damien Chazelle (‘La La Land’), the best films will be chosen by Jane Campion (‘The Power of the Dog’), Martin McDonagh (‘The Banshees of Inisherin’), Laura Poitras (‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’), and Mia Hansen-Løve (‘Bergman Island’). Also jury members include such actors and actresses as Chinese Shu Qi, Italian Gabriele Mainetti and Palestinian Saleh Bakri.
