Philip Sotnichenko‘s film will compete in the Best International Feature Film category. It was chosen by the decision of 14 members of the Ukrainian Oscar Committee (UOC), as the latter announced on Facebook
‘The Committee members reviewed the submitted films in detail, the discussion was heated and constructive. As a result of voting, the film ‘La Palisiada’ was chosen as a contender. We wish the representative success in the Oscar race!’, Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, Head of the UOC, commented.
About ‘La Palisiada’
This is Philip Sotnichenko’s debut feature film shot in the genre of ‘post-Soviet noir’.
The events unfold in Ukraine in 1996, a few months before the signing of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which abolished the death penalty.
The film tells the story of a forensic psychiatrist. His calm and familiar life changes after he takes part in a tangled story of the murder of a local policeman. During his work, the protagonist begins to notice lawlessness in the law enforcement system and to doubt its correctness.
The roles in the film were played by Andrii Zhurba, Novruz Pashayev, Oleksandr Parkhomenko, Valeria Oleynikova, Olena Mamchur, Oleksandr Maleev, Stepan Barabash, Serhii Luzanovskyi, Oleksandr Mavrits and artists Yarema Malashchuk and Sana Shahmuradova.
The work on ‘La Palisiada’ lasted five years. The film was first presented at the film market of the Odesa International Film Festival in 2019. There it received the HeForShe (Solidarity Movement for Gender Equality) award from the UN. Filming of the movie took place in Kyiv, Zakarpattia and in a prison in Bucha during 2021.
The world premiere of ‘La Palisiada’ took place at International Film Festival Rotterdam in the winter of 2022 — the film was shown in the main competition of the festival — Tiger competition. It won the prize of the International Federation of Film Critics.
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What other films were contenders for the win
In addition to ‘La Palisiada’, such films as ‘‘Slovo’ House: Unfinished Novel’ by Taras Tomenko, ‘We Were Recruits’ by Liubomyr Levytskyi and ‘Peaceful People’ by Oksana Karpovych took part in the national selection. We told you more about each contender here.
