Projects supported by the British Council:
- Polish composer Antoni Kulka-Sobkowich composed the score for the film Pearl of the Absurd, directed by Oleksandra Chuprina.
Scheduled for release in 2020, the film documents a journey to Odesa and the post-Soviet reality of this European city on the Black Sea coast. Told in the first-person, the work explores local myth and oddities, and the director’s family history—a connection seemingly lost in 1917. Since that time, the story has lurked behind a curtain of enforced silence, the sole link with previous generations the pre-revolutionary homes now at risk in the rapidly modernizing city. As architectural landmarks are retooled as shopping malls, the old city slowly disappears. This trip among the streets, buildings, caryatids and rooftops of the old city is both a quest for some sign of ancestors from a faded past and an encounter with the personal stories of the dedicated souls working to preserve Odesa’s architectural, anthropological heritage.
- Composer Dmytro Kozynets and the film "Satellites" directed by Marina Gryshai.
- Composer Mikita Shpanko and the film adaptation of Franz Kafka's "The Process" directed by Anastasia Mekheda.
- Composer Anton Degtyarov, for the creation of the music for the Nikon Romanchenko project "Coma".
Soundtracks commissioned by the Dovzhenko Centre for performance at the Mute Nights Festival:
- "Der Adjutant des Zaren"
Directed by Volodymyr Stryzhevsky (Germany, 1929, 91 minutes)
This film from the Danish Film Archive features the work of two Ukrainian emigrants: Volodymyr Styzhevsky, who directed, and the actor Alexander Granakha.
Contemporary musical accompaniment by Ukrainian composer Roman Vyshnevskyi, a product of the 2018 Envision Sound film-composer training programme.
- "Der Turm des Schweigens"
Directed by Johannes Guter (Germany, 1925, 96 minutes)
This mystical drama is preserved by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation in Germany) features Ukrainian-born era film star Ksenia Desni.
Contemporary musical accompaniment by Ukrainian composer Serhiy Leontiev, participant in the Envision Sound programme and the Sed Contra Ensemble.
- "Underground"
Directed by Anthony Asquith (UK, 1928, 84 minutes)
A classic of silent world cinema, preserved by the British Film Archive.
Contemporary musical accompaniment by Azerbaijani composer and product of the Envision Sound programme, Azer Gajiaskerli, joined by a select quartet of Kyiv-based musicians.