Ukrainian commemorative performance “Witness,” dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy, has received the Bronze Cannes Lion at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
This is the first Cannes Lion award for Ukraine.
“Witness” is a music performance created by Ukraine’s Crisis Media Center. The music for the performance was composed by Svytoslav Lunyov. It was staged in the park near Babyn Yar in September 2016 as part of the commemorative concert, organized by Ukraine’s government and Ukrainian Jewish Encounter organization.
“The performance symbolizes the wind that witnessed atrocious events 75 years ago,” the web page of the performance reads. “The sound of the wind epitomizes voices of souls perished in the Babyn Yar, while young singers and violinists echo the sorrow for the victims through their music.”
Over a two-day period in 1941, over 34,000 Kyivan Jews were shot to death in Babyn Yar. During the next two years of Kyiv’s German occupation, more killings and burials of peoples the Nazis considered enemies occurred in Babyn Yar, including Ukrainians, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and others.
Gennadiy Kurochka, director of “Witness” posted a photo from the ceremony on Facebook on June 21 saying: “Yay! The first one! Breaking the enchanted circle! Congratulations, Ukraine!”
Kurochka told the Kyiv Post that this award is important to Ukraine for two reasons.
“First of all, the world has once again seen and realized the tragedy that my country has been through. Babyn Yar. And, of course, Ukraine has, at last, received its first Cannes Lion. Ukraine is a creative and talented nation, but it couldn’t win an award. Now it will give a new impulse for the new ideas and projects,” he said.
When working on the performance, Kurochka realized there were no real witnesses of the Babyn Yar tragedy who were alive. So he decided to build an art installation in the form of Shofar, an ancient Jewish music instrument made of ram’s horn. Through this Shofar, the wind, which was the only witness to the tragedy, could send the story to the kids, who performed in “Witness.”
“They were the transmitters of the horror that happened at that time,” Kurochka said.
According to him, because of lack of time and technical problems, he could not direct the performance in a way he wanted to.
“If we did, we would get the Golden Lion,” he said, adding that he is more than happy with the Bronze one. “First one will always be the first one.”
