THE LIGHTS OF KYIV — Switzerland 2023 — Directed by: Serhii Tykhoniuk — 16 min — Spoken language: Ukrainian — Subtitles: English, French — Production Company: ECAL — Producer: Paolo Moretti — Script: Serhii Tykhoniuk — Photography: Serhii Tykhoniuk — Editing: Serhii Tykhoniuk — Sound: Serhii Tykhoniuk — Music: Mathys Nouspikel
In negative, we are shown snapshots of a city that Serhii Tykhoniuk is afraid to begin to forget. “I want you to describe it as it created you,” he continues in voice-over, speaking to the heroine of his film. She is one of the 8 million Ukrainians who have sought refuge in Europe since the war triggered by the Russian invasion. During night-time strolls in the streets of Lausanne, or working on the floor on a canvas inspired by abstract expressionism, Lisa evokes her native city, the keen loss of the sense of freedom that she still associates with it, its smells, and even “the espresso tonic of Bar 1818” – as many fragments of imagination that the forced refugees have taken from home along with their suitcases. In front of her compatriot’s watchful camera, the young woman speaks frankly about her torments and the sense of strangeness she feels in her host country. “Kyiv is me!” she exclaims in a kind of hallucinogenic trance, dreaming out loud of its now distant “lights”, which continue to burn brightly in her heart of hearts.
Festivals
Visions du Réel, 2023
UFM Lucerne, 2023 (Best U-20 Film Award)
Journées de Soleure, 2024
CIADFF, 2024
NUFF, 2023
FIPADOC, 2024
Locarno International Film Festival, (2023 and 2024, Film schools section)
Glimpses of Europe, 2023
YOUKI festival, 2023
