About the film:
Mustafa’s elder son is killed in the war in Eastern Ukraine. Mustafa pays a bribe to retrieve his son’s body from the doctors and extracts his younger brother from a peaceful student apartment, all to journey together to Crimea. He buries Nazim according to religious tradition, but he confronts Alim with an ultimatum: it’s time to return to their homeland, no matter its current state.
In his debut in full-length cinema, Nariman Aliiev, who himself is from a village in the heart of the Crimean steppe, brings together themes he had been accumulating in his previous student works: the relationships between Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians; the situation of migrants in the Ukrainian capital, its forced — or imagined? — temporariness; and the loss of a loved one. It’s about the painful loss of a “blood” connection between a person and their land or between people themselves. Additionally, the film’s central conflict revolves around the loss of a common language between father and son. This is effectively underscored by the contrast in acting techniques between the main Crimean Tatar star of Ukrainian cinema and theater, Akhtem Seitablaiev, who brilliantly transforms into Mustafa, and amateur actor and Aliiev’s relative, Remzi Bilialov, who plays Alim.
Participants for the conversation will be announced shortly.
Ukraine Culture Now Associaiton is a platform connecting Ukrainian and Swedish culture. We provide a cultural home for Ukrainians in Sweden and open windows to Ukraine’s history, art, and contemporary life. Through our projects, we promote exchange, understanding, long-term cooperation, and strengthen knowledge about Ukraine and place the country firmly on Sweden’s cultural map.
Information:
Drinks and snacks available from Teaterbaren and are allowed into the cinema during the screening.
Title: Homeward / Evge / Dodomu
Year: 2019
Country: Ukraine
Studio: Limelite, ForeFilms
Duration: Film 96 min + conversation
Director: Nariman Aliiev
Writer: Nariman Aliiev, Marysia Nikitiuk
Cinematographer: Anton Fursa
Languages: Anton Fursa
Cast: Akhtem Seitablaiev, Remzi Bilialov, Daria Barikhashvili, Veronika Lukianenko, Viktor Zhdanov, Anatolii Marempolskyi, Akmal Hurezov, Larysa Yatsenko
Subtitles in English!
