Maidan everywhere

Film director Ekaterina Ekhnostai - about the revolution and Ukrainian documentary cinema

At the Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu Docu, the premiere of the film by the young director Katerina Gornostai "Everywhere Maidan". Katerina Gornostai was a member of a collective project dedicated to the Ukrainian Revolution: the Kino Almanach " Euromaidan: Chernova Installation ". She studied in Moscow at the Marina Documentary Cinema studio and returned to Kyiv shortly after Berkut brutally dispersed the student action of the protest. In the film "Euromaidan: Chernova Installation" two novels that Catherine Gornostai shot, about the destruction of the monument to Lenin near the Bessarabian market in Kyiv and about a student Masha, who during the Maidan helped the wounded and beaten participants in the protest. The conversation with Katerina Ermine was recorded after the show "Euromaidan: Chernova Installation" in the Prague Cinema "Svetozer", where the film festival " The One World " was held.

- The first episode that you shot for the film "Euromaidan" is dedicated to the demolition of the monument to Lenin in Kyiv. The people of your generation with Lenin almost did not encounter, you were not forced to teach scientific communism, to call all these delusional quotes. But all the same, your peers have an instinctive aversion to Lenin and in general to the Soviet world: Leninopad was organized by youth. Do you feel hostility to Lenin?

- No, and my peers do not really feel. What was happening at the monument was very interesting for the documentary, but it was hard to observe, because it looked like such a mass orgy. Less than a month of confrontation has passed, some kind of aggression has already accumulated, there was nowhere to throw it out, and people went to blame this monument. This was the third Sunday of the Maidan. It is interesting that when the very first big rally was, Veche, as we were called, Lenin immediately began to guard the policemen. The next time he was surrounded by a police from all sides, when there were a lot of people in the square and everyone was afraid that they would demolish him. And the next Sunday there was nobody there, and then people came. It seemed to me very strange why he was not guarded, because there were a lot of people. I thought that this, perhaps, would give an occasion to just avenge the monument and disperse the Maidan. And three days later the first acceleration happened. The Golden Eagle and the police pressed people in the square, but people survived, it was December 11th. And Lenin does not mean anything emotionally for me personally. Judging by how people behaved, it was such a couple’s release.

- It was not only in Kyiv that the Leninopad swept throughout the country except Crimea and the eastern regions. After all, a non -accidental thing is such a spontaneous desovetization.

- It was really so, and my friends wrote on Facebook: “So Lenin fell in my native town,” it was interesting to observe this. This is just the destruction of the characters of the past with which we no longer want to be connected.

- Yanukovych is also identified with this past, he is a person from the past, a Soviet man.

- Before going to Vilnius to sign the association, he came to Putin for three days, and everyone was wary. When Yanukovych returned, he stated that he would not sign the association. That is why he is a person from the past with whom we no longer want to be connected in terms of the fact that we did not want to go to the Customs Union and did not want to go to the channel that Russia built for us. And Russia is associated with the return of Soviet traditions.

- When the Euromaidan began, you were in Moscow, that is, you watched the revolution from the then not very hostile state, but clearly not understanding what is happening in Kyiv ...

- At first there was a general enthusiasm in Moscow among my friends, everyone took it so that the swamp in Kyiv began, and they were very sick for this business. When the Euromaidan was dispersed on November 30, one of my Moscow acquaintances said: "It should have been so, but what did you think that you will always have it differently?" It seems to me that many in Russia were disappointed that the swamp did not work. Maybe the envy that we could get something, but it did not work there. Even the people I dealt with are very intelligent, very good, at some point they began to say: Navalny-Putin’s protege, maybe he is some kind of agent. In general, we no longer trust him. In general, we don’t have an opposition, and Putin is not so bad. ”I remember this shift very well, which very surprised me. We watched his press conference and said:“ Yes, stupid journalists, stupid questions, but Putin can answer interestingly, knows the numbers and like such a smart politician everywhere. ”I think that he has not been tied with our political affairs, we are not very good. He was interested in the school of Razbuzhkina, and I had to return, just after the first time of December 11th, I had a defense of diplomas and asked me: “Well, Katya, you are standing there against the Russian Federation?” We have a president that we do not like, we want him to resign, we want the Prime Minister to resign, so that people who have been beaten by students are punished. "What does the Russian Federation have not understood here. But, obviously, the mood began in Russia that it was against the Russian Federation, although it was not so.

Katerina Ermine

- I was struck by the Euromaidan that, although different people made the film, not a single politician in any episode. Unless the portrait of Tymoshenko on the Christmas tree flickers. Is it intentionally done or did it happen?

- It was just that. It was a huge power of people who gathered together, and the decision of politicians depended on them. I well remember how our opposition leaders went on stage and asked permission from people, for example, to negotiate. It was amazing, a real veche. We did not want to specially emphasize this, it just turned out that politicians did not play any role. In fact, this is bad, because if there was some kind of charismatic leader to whom the people entrusted and trusted, it would be completely different. Now many would have dreamed that a person who would be a transparent and brave reformer come to come. Because the authorities still have old people. Then on the Maidan there really was the impression that the bar fell so low, the people were already so tired that well, let it be, but do something. All the same, the people were the main people, and the opposition leaders simply tried to interact. There were many interesting moments when Poroshenko came out in front of the bucket of the excavator on Bankova, and Lyashko sang the anthem and suffocated from tear gas, but people were real, and some politicians are incomprehensible.

- Please tell us about the heroine of the second episode that you shot, is a student Masha, who became a nurse.

There were things that become myths. Cyborgs of the Donetsk airport, for example, or Heroes of Heavenly Hundreds, is a whole epic

- It was such a documentary gift for me. I just started shooting it right away, met and started. I usually just go to people and take off. And the next day I saw them again, they already knew that some girl was making a movie. We still walked with them. Then she did not see her for a month, and when it began on Grushevsky, I noticed her again in the crowd in the form of a nurse. This was the second such documentary gift. When she noticed me, I turned off the camera, and we just hugged on the Maidan. I have not taken many such things and regret it. Then, a year later, when there was the anniversary of the Maidan, I met her friend, so ridiculous, she laughs very funny, she said that Masha left for Germany, is now studying in a medical one. By the way, she is the heroine of not only my film, but also the Babylon-13 project. She is in a large television film, which is called "Winter, which has changed us", which is made in co -products "Babylon" and television.

- Any revolution inspires a cultural upsurge. The Ukrainian revolution has become a detonator of such a cultural explosion - for cinema, in particular?

- The revolution itself was very creative. A lot of people who are engaged in art, not only cinema, came there, and it was such a huge action. Graffiti, the same wall of the bricks where everyone signed his city, helmets painted by our topics for embroidery, all these things were really a surge of creativity. People began to draw posters - it was a whole movement. And in terms of cinema, it seems to me that the people who shot on the Maidan began to look differently at reality. Therefore, there was a huge explosion in Ukrainian documentary cinema. Not even because there were a lot of films, but because a lot of people began to be interested in them. On Docu Days literally a month after the events, each film was full halls. Moreover, which is very disappointing, this is not noticed by our state, the position of our head of Goskino is such that we must support genre cinema, and documentary cinema is not for a mass viewer, is unprofitable. This very offends documentaryists, because there are changes, people have finally opened their eyes, watch serious films, are interested. But on the other hand, I am afraid of the emergence of game work about the Maidan, especially on the theme of the Maidan.

-Maybe some vulgarity?

- I think it can be, because there is such a total heroization of this event, not only the Maidan, but also the war. I would really like films that would seriously watch the situation. After all, war is primarily a terrible horror, there is nothing to heroize it. Films have already appeared in which the enemies are obvious and one hundred percent bad, and there are our heroes who are one hundred percent good. And this division is destructive for cinema.

- This is also Soviet, only inside out.

I would really not want the third Maidan to happen. This is very beneficial to Putin and Russia

- We seem to say no, we are not about that at all, and then it turns out that they are mainly working on film propaganda now, I do not consider this a movie. Probably, this is not bad in a sense, because we did not have anything like that, in general there was never a national idea, and now there are things that become myths. The cyborgs of the Donetsk airport, for example, or the heroes of heavenly hundreds are a whole epic. I am a little afraid of this side of the medal. There was a Goskino contest, which ended, however, right away: "What are you all well done, but we have no money this year." We were at documentary projects, watched work, among them there were several very frightening documentaries. Kiselev, on the contrary, some propaganda things, the chanting of Maidan, Shevchenko, Sich, all this. I am very afraid of such straightforward pieces.

- The film "Euromaidan: Chernova installation" can also be accused of one -sidedness - you did not show the suffering of the "Berkutians".

- There are different opinions. Some say: why didn’t you take one side, showed neutrally? Others say that they did not show the second side deeper. We have such a theater project "Diaries of the Maidan". I helped to collect it, deciphered the texts of the heroes who came to us, told stories from the Maidan. These are the stories of people who were on the Maidan on our part, people with our position. Director Andrei May asked: why do you have everything one -sided, only on this side of the barricade? And Andrei said very harshly: if I have a certain position, why should I try to do it objectively? I believe that my position is like that, I want to tell about it. We did not even have a definite position how to make this film, but judging by what it came out, it can be judged that it was shot by people who had a certain position, they sympathized with the people who stood on the Maidan, more than the security forces. Therefore, it turned out spontaneously that we are among those people about whom we were filmed, and not among Berkut.

- After the Maidan, a year passed. Are you not disappointed? You said that old people remained in power. Do not think you need a new Maidan?

I would not want to show us on TV the series "Fizruk" or "Menta" some

- I do not regret that the Maidan happened. It was probably the most beautiful thing I saw in my life, and the most terrible. In general, this experience was very difficult. I would really not want the third Maidan and in general similar revolutions. It seems to me that this is very beneficial for Putin and Russia in order to finally destabilize our already missing economy. Therefore, I will not go to the Maidan. Or I’ll go if the protest of real people really begins who will come there at their own free will. But if these are custom -made promotions that many are afraid of, shares of paid activists who will try to shake the unsteady calm, I do not want to participate in this and do not want to support it. I really want people to postpone, so that there are some changes in the country, and then look at what to do. I would like the most, so as not to fight, and then we will see.

- You have no desire to go east, to war and shoot there? Or scary?

- I am very scared. I immediately decided that I would not go there. A person who is sure of what he will do there can go there, and is generally sure. And I'm not sure, I was never sure, even more so on the Maidan. On December 11, I didn’t get to the Maidan, I did not see this and felt that I had not removed this very important point, when the nation was reunited, opposed a huge force and was able to win. But soon, on Grushevsky, I got into the thick of the thick, I had never seen such a thing in my life and realized that I was simply not the person who could stand on the line of fire between the protesters and the “golden eagle” and shoot there. That is, I shot in the rear, because I am very scared.

- In addition to the war in the East, there are so many interesting stories in Ukraine now ...

- Klondike.

- But you are still engaged in a new film about the Maidan ...

The poster of the film "Everywhere Maidan"

-I do this in order to somehow structure the archive that I have, so that it is not just folders with video materials. Maidan - this was for me the first experience of shooting among completely unfamiliar conditions. It was very difficult for me. All the films that I had made before were a rather personal nature, people close to me participated in them. Therefore, a film was obtained about the whole year of this life, which was all under the sign of the Maidan, War, Alarm, but nevertheless, in which there were many good things. This is such a set of memories of what happened this year with me and the people who were with me. Maidan thoroughly knocked out traffic jams, to be honest.

- Now they argue about whether the show of Russian films and TV shows should be prohibited. Christian Hergs from the Babylon-13 project told me that he is one of the ideologists of this process. He believes that it is harmful to Ukraine and everything needs to be prohibited. What do you think?

- I'm against prohibitions. I am for people to watch everything, but think at the same time. Although I do not want to see Okhlobystin either on TV or at all. I was very surprised when we had a short film at our youth festival, in which the Grishkovets, a fierce opponent of the Maidan, played the main role. Why on earth does the Ukrainian competition are short -lived with his participation? I understand indignation about these things. But on the other hand, there is a lot of good cinema in Russia now, and I would really like our people to see and know him. It seems to me that now in Russia the time when the wave of a very cool movie pours, I directly wait for it. People like Lyubov Klumenko, Natasha Meshchaninova are now standing on the threshold of the movie revolution in Russia. These are the films that I would like to shoot myself. Therefore, I am very opposed to ban everything directly. It seems to me that we need to selectively approach this. Naturally, I would not want to show us on TV the series "Fizruk" or "Copes" of some. But Leviathan is a film that is worth seeing in Ukraine.

“But no one forbids him.”

- It is unknown. Because films are prohibited that somehow concern employees of law enforcement agencies. As far as I understand, it falls under the category of prohibited films.

- Let's hope that Ukrainian cinema will be seen in Russia. Euromaidan shown in Russia?

- showed at Artdokfest near Mansky. There were three shows. In general, this year he made a whole program "Ukraine NOT Russia", where many films were shown, including the "Maidan" of the Loznitsa. It was very cool, such a stronghold of fresh thought. But I have such a strange feeling that even Artdokfest collects only the audience that understands, and this is such a soap bubble in which we live. In the same way, I try not to see, because it is very painful to see them, violent opponents of what is happening in Ukraine. In the same social networks, these soap bubbles exist, among them everything seems to be normal, but the horror-zazhas will begin there. And how to be with it is not clear. In fact, it is very good that our Euromaidan drives everywhere, people watch it and understand more what happened there, or feel more at least. This is the most important thing that the movie should do is transmit sensory information.

- And the reaction of Russian spectators - restrained, enthusiastic, mixed?

– Эти люди очень сильно за это переживали, смотрели все стримы, все видели, все об этом знают, и, может, каким-то образом "Евромайдан" дополнил их картину мира в этом вопросе. Очень много было людей, которые искренне переживали, выходили после этого фильма в слезах. Это был самый трогательный показ из всех, на которых я присутствовала.