“My Thoughts Are Silent,” the debut film by Ukrainian director Antonio Lukich will be released on the streaming platform HBO Europe in autumn 2020. It will be HBO’s first Ukrainian film.
The film’s sales agent, the British production company Reason8 Films, signed the sales contract earlier in spring 2020, but the film was only transferred to HBO more recently.
“My Thoughts Are Silent” is one of the few Ukrainian films to turn a profit.
The comedy-drama focuses on the relationship between mother and son and their dreams. Vadim the son works as an audio engineer and receives a proposal to record the sounds of some animals in Ukraine, especially one rare duck. If he completes this task, he may get a job in Canada.
To carry out the work, he travels to his home region of Zakarpattia, picks up his mother Halia and goes searching for the duck. Along the way, Vadim and his mother frequently quarrel because of their different values.
The film premiered on Jan. 14 at the Kyivan Rus cinema in Kyiv. Since then, “My Thoughts are Silent” has earned Hr 9.4 million ($343,000) at the box office. It cost Hr 9.2 million to make it. The Ukrainian State Film Agency gave the filmmakers Hr 8.9 million.
During the distribution period, 108,000 people watched it in cinemas. The film won multiple awards: the special jury prize in Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic, and the audience prize at the 10th Odesa International Film Festival.
In 2019, the film also won the National Film Critics Award “Kinokolo” in the “Opening of the Year” category and Irma Vitovska-Vanza, who plays Halia, won “Best Actress.”
Moreover, “My Thoughts Are Silent” won the main prize at the 2020 Zolota Dzyga Ukrainian Film Academy Awards for best picture, best screenplay and best actress. Additionally, its director and co-screenwriter Antonio Lukich won the “discovery of the year” award.
“Now it’s not just the first Ukrainian film about a tall dude, but also the first Ukrainian film about a tall dude that can stick the HBO logo on all its pictures and posters,” the creators wrote on the film’s Facebook page.
