The Road of Freedom, a movie by Na Dotyk vision radio, becomes winner of All-Ukrainian Screen Arts Festival

This year’s All-Ukrainian Screen Arts Festival, Dnipro Cinema, named after Danylo Sakhnenko, received 82 creative screen full-length and short-length works by artists from different regions of Ukraine in the following nominations: Feature Film, Documentary, Television Works, Student Works, Animation, and Children’s and Youth Creativity. The winner of the festival in the nomination Television Works was The Road of Freedom movie created by the team of Zaporizhzhia independent media, the Na Dotyk vision radio. The movie tells about the unique Zaporizhzhia contribution to the history of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence and statehood in 1991.

The starting point of the idea for the film was the 30^th anniversary of the second All-Ukrainian youth festival of modern song and popular music called Chervona Ruta, which was held in Zaporizhzhia, which turned out to be not just a harbinger of independence but probably a “point” of the Soviet era in the history of Ukraine.

The presence in the city from August 8 to August 18, 1991, of representatives of the Ukrainian cultural elite, contemporary original artists, leaders of the national-democratic camp led by Viyacheslav Chornovol, the festive euphoria that accompanied the festival events, and the contrasting events of the following week of August 1991, became a catalyst for fateful socio-political changes that began to take place in Ukraine.

The Road of Freedom was shot from August 2021 to February 2022. Its premiere was scheduled for February 26, 2022, but then this event did not take place due to the full-scale invasion of the russian federation. The movie was uploaded onto YouTube, and later – in July 2022, the creative team presented its work live at the Zaporizhzhia Museum of Phenomenal Power. Those behind the movie were Olha Vakalo, the scriptwriter, journalist, and presenter; Serhii Kucherenko, the videographer; and Aliyona Buhaichenko, the director.

We sincerely congratulate our colleagues on this important creative distinction of the prestigious festival and wish them new creative achievements!

REFERENCE INFORMATION. The Dnipro Cinema festival was founded on the initiative of the Dnipropetrovsk branch of the Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers back in 2004. Unfortunately, this event has not been held for the past several years, so this year, the festival was held in an updated format. The authoritative competition jury was headed by the head of the Odesa branch of the Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers/People’s Artist of Ukraine, Yaroslav Lupii.

Call the Zaporizhzhia JSC at 096 277 5352 (Nataliya Kuzmenko and Valentyna Manzhura, the Zaporizhzhia JSC coordinators). The Center’s address is 152 Sobornyi Avenue.

ABOUT JSC

The Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the NUJU implemented with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO. The initiative is designated to help media representatives working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers operate in Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro and provide journalists with organizational, technical, legal, psychological, and other types of assistance.

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Liudmyla Dolzhenko