Ukraine Archives - Celluloid Junkie

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Unbowed by Russian Invasion, Ukraine Selects “La Palisiada” as Oscar Submission

The race for the 2025 Oscars is underway, and Ukraine once again finds itself in the running for a top honor. Following last year’s victory for “20 Days in Mariupol” in the Best Documentary category, Ukraine has selected another powerful film, “La Palisiada”, to represent the nation in the Best Inte…

The Moldovan flag sits on top of a cinema audience

CJ Exclusive: Moldova Eyes Cultural Growth and Appeal Through Cinema

Much like anywhere else in Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, the Ministry of Culture is having a tough job transforming creaking Soviet architecture and infrastructure into an attractive and welcoming proposition for outside investors. The Minister for Culture, Sergiu Prodan, however, is buoyant. “We…

KIFF Expands Sunny Bunny to Found Kyiv’s First Queer International Film Festival

Just days before he launched Ukraine’s first LGBTQIA+ film festival this month, Celluloid Junkie spoke to organiser Bohdan Zhuk about history, culture, and Russia’s efforts to oppress another generation. With everything that’s going on, what’s the main agenda, I ask. “We’re taking back our legacy,”…

Planeta Kino Tempts Hollywood Back to Ukraine With Dinner and a Movie

Celluloid Junkie visited Kyiv’s Blockbuster Mall for a tour of Planeta Kino and a chat with CEO Natalia Baydan and found that the future of Ukrainian cinema might already be here. The Blockbuster Mall is possibly the shiniest building in Kyiv. A gleaming lump of burnished aluminium and crystalline g…

Ukraine’s Docudays UA Festival Take Truth About War on Tour

Ukraine’s Docudays UA festival will tour 20 films across Ukraine this year, including showings in some of the besieged country’s most dangerous flashpoints. Celluloid Junkie spoke to one of the organisers, Maria Buchelnikova, about the importance of carrying human rights messages into a warzone. “Fo…

Planeta Kino

Cinemas in Ukraine Are Reopening Cautiously

Cinemas in several large Ukrainian cities have started to reopen, but with restrictions in place in light of the ongoing war with Russia. The two largest Ukrainian cinema chains Multiplex and Planeta Kino are operating cinemas in a few key cities, though some cinemas have been destroyed by the war a…

Cinema United in Solidarity With Ukraine

Film is a widely used propaganda tool especially in times of war but simply keeping cinemas open can be an act of defiance. In Ukraine, local exhibitors are intent on business as usual even while shopping malls which house many of the country’s multiplexes are being destroyed. Planeta Kino, a networ…

The Batman Release Canceled In Russia

Global Cinema Community Unites Behind Ukraine

Natalia Baydan, CEO of Ukrainian multiplex chain Planeta Kino is a friend to Celluloid Junkie and well known to the cinema industry family. She was one of those interviewed on the CJCinemaSummit on Thursday 3 March, speaking from her native city Kyiv, which is currently threatened with a mass invasi…

Oleg Berezin

Russian Cinema Association Chair Resigns Over Ukraine War

The Chairman of the Russian Federation’s Association of Cinema Owners has resigned over his opposition to the war in Ukraine. Oleg Berezin announced his decision in a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday. He is one of several prominent figures in Russia’s world of arts and culture who have vo…

CJ Opinion: Hollywood, Cut Off Russia Now!

A sovereign European nation of 44 million people is under attack by one of the largest armies in the world. The unthinkable reality of unprovoked hostility seeking to redraw the map of Europe is now playing out a two hour flight from most European capitals. NATO and other Western democracies are not…