Of the record three Ukrainian films that competed at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival this year, one, “107 Mothers,” co-produced with Czechia and Slovakia, won.
On Sept. 11, the feature film debut by the Slovak director Péter Kerekes received the Best Screenplay prize in the festival’s Orizzonti (Horizons) section that focuses on new trends and expressive language in film. The script was co-authored by the Slovak writer Ivan Ostrochovský.
Ukrainian Dennis Ivanov of Arthouse Traffic film company co-produced the movie and Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy co-funded the production. Ukrainian actress Maryna Klimova has the leading role alongside amateur actresses who play themselves.
“107 Mothers” is also set in Ukraine. It tells the story of a young mother who gives birth at a correctional facility in the southern city of Odesa, surrounded by other women – prisoners, nurses and guards. The screenplay is based on real-life stories that Kerekes, best known as a documentary film director, has recorded in this particular prison, the Black Sea Correctional Colony No.74 in Odesa.
The trailer for “107 Mothers.”
“When I first heard that ‘107 Mothers’ had been selected to participate in Venice, I was very happy that the women playing the characters in the film would walk the festival’s red carpet: Liuba (Vasylivna), whose life story was the basis for the screenplay; Iryna (Kiryazeva), a real-life prison guard playing herself; and, Maryna (Klimova), a young actress from Ukraine,” Kerekesh told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty after the Sept. 1 premiere in Venice.
The movie will also be shown at film festivals in Slovakia on Sept. 14 and Spain on Sept. 19. In Ukraine, the film will be released in 2022 as “Censor,” an alternative title to be used in some European countries.
Another Ukrainian movie that competed in the Orizzonti section is “Rhino,” directed by Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian director from Crimea, who was imprisoned by the Russian authorities on fabricated charges for over five years.
“Reflection,” a drama by Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych competed in the festival’s main section, along with movies by such famous directors as Paolo Sorrentino and Pedro Almodóvar. “Happening” by Audrey Diwan, a French director of Lebanese origin, took the main prize.
Vasyanovych’s previous film “Atlantis” received the Best Film prize in the Orizzonti section of the festival in 2019. And last year, “Bad Roads,” a war drama by Ukrainian writer and director Natalya Vorozhbit, took a prize at the Venice International Film Critics’ Week that runs parallel to the Venice International Film Festival.
