The Klassiki film database, to which the University is now in its 3rd year of subscription, has this week published details of four Ukrainian films available (with English subtitles and further reading) from now until 4 January that have been selected by the activist, writer, and chef Olia Hercules.

From the Klassiki site:

Klassiki Picks is our new series of curated watchlists personally selected for our subscribers by celebrated filmmakers, writers, and actors … Olia is a chef, writer, and activist who has brought the cuisine of her native Ukraine – as well as the Caucasus and Eastern Europe more broadly – to the world in her acclaimed cookbooks … In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Hercules and Russian chef Alissa Timoshkina established the #CookForUkraine social media initiative, which has since raised over two million pounds for UNICEF, Legacy Of War Foundation, and Choose Love. Olia’s selection for Klassiki Picks offers viewers a tour of Ukrainian cinematic history, including a number of award-winning recent titles. Available to Klassiki subscribers from 14 December 2023 – 4 January 2024.

Here is the link to use to sign up to Klassiki.  Note that you must first create an account using a valid @cam.ac.uk email address.

The site has a video introduction to Olia Hercules’ film choices.  There’s also a write-up of her choices and summaries of the films in the Journal section of the Klassiki site, here.  Here, for example, is the summary of the film ‘Carol of the Bell’

Carol of the Bells (dir. Olesya Morgunets-Isaenko)

The first film is called Carol of the Bells, by director Olesya Morgunets-Isaenko. The film is set in the city of Stanyslaviv, modern-day Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine, and it follows the lives of three families who are neighbours: one Ukrainian, one Polish, one Jewish. Unfortunately, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place: at first the Soviets come and repress the parents of the Polish family, and then the Germans come. In Ukraine it’s been hailed as the movie of light in the dark times after it came out this year. The title Carol of the Bells is originally “Schedryk” in Ukrainian, which is a Ukrainian folk song made famous worldwide by composer Mykola Leontovych – you’ll know it when it features in the film. There’s definitely a lot of light in this film despite the tragedy that permeates it.

(Readers might remember that the song featured in a December blog post here last year.)  It’s definitely worth reading the Klassiki Journal part of the site as well as watching the films it offers.  Just last week, the Journal published an essay called Narratives of reflection: how Ukrainian cinema revives and reinterprets the 1990s, by film critic Sonya Vseliubska.  Do take a look!

Mel Bach