The Silver Shark Underwater Image Festival in Kyiv takes the plunge May 30
han just a safety precaution; it’s much more fun to take the plunge with someone at your side.
That being said, dozens of divers with friends at their sides will share the highlights of their explorations on the last weekend of May at the Silver Shark 3rd International Underwater Image Festival here in Kyiv.
“When you see something beautiful underwater, you want to share it with someone else in one way or another,” said dive instructor Volodymyr Avramenkov, “[whether] by pointing it out to a buddy or student or by showing it on the screen.”
That’s how it happened to Avramenkov, whose short film debut of “Why the Equator?” won first prize in the Feature Films category at last year’s festival in Antibes, France.
He took a group of beginners to the Maldives and borrowed an underwater video camera to record their first dives. The initial idea of shooting a video evolved into an exciting story about amateur divers encountering miracles at the equator.
In his film “From Dusk Till Dawn,” the Grand Prize winner in the feature film category, Oleksandr Kurakin from Odessa, shows viewers a world less colorful than the equator, but no less astonishing. In a light-hearted and passionate way, Kurakin captures the tiniest details of the Black Sea which leave even experienced divers surprised.
The remaining 36 films have topics that range from winter spear hunting to dolphin therapy for troubled youth; from a baby’s first diving experience to erotic tales of mermaids; from meditative montages of underwater seascapes to archaeological sagas of sunken cities.
Deep down
“The main goal of such festivals is to showcase the underwater world, to show its beauty and fragility and to teach people how to respect it,” said Silver Shark’s Honorary President Daniel Mercier. Mercier is the founder and president of the world’s oldest Underwater Image Festival in Antibes.
“The second task is to give divers a chance to demonstrate their trophies,” Mercier continued. “Whether or not festivals exist, divers will always take photos and film their adventures. It’s up to us to make sure that their works don’t end up in their drawers,” he said.
And Ukrainian divers have taken the invitation to demonstrate their gains quite seriously. If organizers were worried that there would not be enough to show during the first festivals, today there is almost too much.
“The festival has grown out of one cinema hall and has become a three-day event,” founder and President Natalia Balashova.
“At the first festival we demonstrated all entries. This time we’ll show only the best works, but it’s so hard to choose which ones because they’re all so good,” Balashova said.
Three weeks before the festival, judges had watched more than 12 hours of film. There were 50 applicants from 11 countries, and more entries keep coming.
This year, competing films will run non-stop in two halls.
In the hallway outside, people congregate around the underwater art exhibit featuring photography, paintings and scuba-diving equipment.
One thing that distinguishes Silver Shark from other local festivals is a combination of celebrities and its informal atmosphere. In 2002, visitors could approach Andre Laban, French diver and underwater cameraman, and a veteran of the famed Calypso explorations of world-famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. At the first two festivals, Laban presented his painting series “Passion of Depth,” which he created underwater using oil and specially treated canvases.
Christian Petron, founder of Europe’s leading underwater film studio Cinemarine and a cameraman for Luc Besson’s “Le Grand Bleu” was also on hand.
Special guests
Among this year’s honorary guests is Pasqual Lecocq, a French surrealist who calls himself “Painter of the Blue.” Although Lecocq may not have taken any deep-sea plunges in his life, he is world-renowned for his images of divers in bizarre settings, such as his “Corrida,” where a scuba diver is taming a shark. Lecocq is also bringing his personal exhibit “107th within the past 25 years.”
Among the local celebrities to attend, Russian rocker Andrei Makarevich, Ukrainian pop singers Katya Buzhinskaya and Olga Kryukova, and the Equites Team – heroes of the TV game show based on the American “Survivor” program – who are all active divers.
The party will be accompanied by the live music of Volodymyr Bulanov from Odessa, who said his music is inspired by the underwater world.
And each evening will feature the winning films of the Antibes festival. Animal lovers shouldn’t miss “The Dance of the Whales” and “Mzima: Hunt of the Riverhorse.”
The three-day festival will end with a boat cruise down the Dnipro and a picnic. And, of course, there’ll be films running non-stop.
Silver Shark 3rd International
Underwater Image Festival
May 30, 31 and June 1
Florentsiya Cinema, 31 Mayakovskoho, 515-8209.
Tickets Hr 12 for one day or Hr 18 for a 3-day pass. Free admission for children. Boat cruise tickets $50.
Order tickets through
web site www.silvershark.org.ua.
