PHOTOPHOBIA
PHOTOPHOBIA
For two months, 12-year-old Niki has not seen daylight. Since that February morning when he disappeared with his mother, sister and stepfather in the entrance of the metro of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. More than 1500 people - families, children, old people and numerous pets - live on the platforms. An old man sings to the guitar while the rockets hit above. Niki makes friends with 11-year-old Vika, who is wearing a funny bunny costume. The two search for normality, for a lightness that has been lost above ground. A fascinatingly multifaceted portrait of a difficult, almost bizarre everyday life in a state of emergency, staged with a light hand and heavy emotions.
Text: Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf
The film will be shown at the Kammerbühne in the original language with English subtitles and simultaneously translated into German. Headphones are available free of charge against a deposit in the cinema foyer.
The film will be shown in the upstairs cinema in the original language and with English subtitles. No translation into German!
Ivan Ostrochovský, Pavol Pekarčík
Roman Kurhan, Michal Novinski
Nikita Tyshchenko
Viktoriia Mats
Yana Yevdokymova
Yevhenii Borshch
Anna Tyshchenko
Ivan Ostrochovský, Pavol Pekarčík - Ivan and Pavol both debuted with their feature documentary Velvet Terrorists (2013), which they have co-directed with Peter Kerekes and which won the Tagesspiegel Readers’ Award at Berlinale's Forum.
Pavol's solo debut feature was hybrid Silent Days (2019), presented at the Karlovy Vary IFF's East of the West competition, while Ivan continued with the feature Koza (2015), returning to the Forum at the Berlinale once again. Ivan's second feature Servants (2020) was presented in a world premiere at the then newly established Berlinale competition Encounters. Ivan is the author and co-writer of 107 Mothers (2021), which won the Orizzonti Best Screenplay at Venice IFF, won the Arab Critics’ Award 2021 and received the European Film Award 2022 nomination for European Discovery.
2013 Velvet Terrorists