Valeria
September 15th - 17h30
Casa Comum - Univ. Porto
Comum House - University of Porto
On September 15 we receive in Casa Comum the director Valeriya Golovina whose film "Our love" was in the official selection of Porto Femme in 2021 (Documentary Students). Now she brings us the project "UKRAINE [NE]POKIRNA. TRILOGY", a video-installation that she presents followed by a moment of conversation with the artist. Moderation: Ana Sofia Pereira, FEMglocal, Universidade Lusófona - CICANT
After completing research on the prominent Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko and his WW II documentary cinema, I wanted to place his war films within Ukraine's contemporary landscape. The video installation focuses on Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s wartime mention of Ukraine as the “invaded land” which could refer to invasions by the USSR or Germany.
The installation reveals how Dovzhenko’s documentaries are laced with bitter irony crosscutting with the images, sounds, testimonies from contemporary Ukraine, defending its freedom and independence against Russia’s invasion.
6 months have passed since Russia’s war against Ukraine started for the world. For me, this war began in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Our relatives and friends called: “Russian military cars and soldiers crossed into Ukraine overnight.” My friend telling me how she was almost killed by a missile that hit her home, and the fear she faced crossing Russian checkpoints getting to Ukraine’s controlled territory. On the 24th of February, 2022 I woke up to the sounds of explosions and airstrikes launched by Russia. The worst sunrise in my life that is now an endless dark hour.
I hope this discussion will illuminate the nuances of war in Ukraine, realized in different narratives and visual representations. We will look at the work of other Ukrainian filmmakers who lived and shot in Ukraine before and during the war. I also hope we will celebrate Ukrainian voices and Ukrainian cinema as well as the artists working in the cultural sector.
Valeriya Golovina Bio:
Valeriya is a Ukrainian cinematographer, documentary director, and educator who has worked in independent film, performances and video art. She gained her initial experience in photography and journalism working for Ukraine’s English language newspaper KyivPost. Later she acquired hands-on experience in filmmaking during her studies at New York University Abu Dhabi as she started directing her own short documentaries and working with film producers. In 2020, Valeriya completed her MFA in Film at Victoria University of Wellington.
Her creative interest lies in the intersection of photography, writing and documentary based projects that reveal personal narratives and complicate official stories with fixed perspectives. Valeriya has directed short documentaries and video installations, and worked as a cinematographer on more than a dozen narrative and documentary shorts. Valeriya’s varied background of studying and working between Ukraine, UAE, New Zealand and the US has shaped her unique mix of visual attitudes, perspective and approaches. She shows a strong interest in the international narrative power of images which has made her travel around the world collecting knowledge from different cultures in visual storytelling.
Ana Sofia Pereira - FEMglocal
Ana Sofia Pereira is a Post-Doctoral researcher of the FEMglocal project, at Lusófona University -
CICANT. In 2020 she completed a European PhD in Communication Sciences
specialization in Cinema, Screenwriting) about the lack of women
screenwriters and directors in Europe and specifically in Portugal.
Writing and Development of Audiovisual and Multimedia Works), promoted by ICA, with the documentary mini-series "Virgínia: Em Busca do Filme Perdido" (Virginia: In Search of the Lost Film).
Multimedia (Program to Support the Writing and Development of Audiovisual and Multimedia Works), promoted by ICA, with the documentary mini-series "Virgínia: Em Busca do Filme Perdido" (Virginia: In Search of the Lost Film).
She is a higher education professor, researcher, scriptwriter and script-doctor. script-doctor.
