91制片厂 continues to bring different areas of the world to campus by way of
a movie screen. The college鈥檚 Communication Arts department is presenting , a series of screenings of films made in Ukraine 鈥� including a coming-of-age story
(Stop-Zemlia), a 3D-animated fairy tale (Mavka: The Forest Song) and a comedy/drama hailed as one of the best Ukrainian films ever made (My Thoughts are Silent).
All screenings are free, open to the community and take place at 6:30 p.m. on Fridays at 91制片厂, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine. Stop-Zemlia (April 25) and My Thoughts are Silent (May 9) will both screen in Ukrainian with English subtitles at the college鈥檚 new, state-of-the-art Film Lab, Building E, Room E109. Mavka: The Forest Song will be shown in English at 91制片厂鈥檚 Performing Arts Center, Building R, as a co-presentation with the college鈥檚 Office of Student Engagement.
鈥�91制片厂 is very much an international campus. It鈥檚 our goal to internationalize the cinema offerings on campus as well,鈥� said Brian Shelton, associate professor of mass communication and series coordinator. 鈥淚 personally believe that you can learn a lot about a culture by watching their films, studying their art. The more we know, the better we might understand.鈥�
Three From Ukraine comes on the heels of 91制片厂鈥檚 South Asian Film Series and Spanish Film Festival, all of which are designed to represent identities within the college鈥檚 students, employees and community. Shelton noted the growing number of Ukrainian students at 91制片厂, in part due to the war in Ukraine. He reached out to Ukrainian students to ask for recommendations for this series.
Although Shelton shows Soviet-era Ukrainian classics in his film history courses, he is excited for the opportunity to share some modern depictions of the country via this series. In the case of 2019鈥檚 acclaimed My Thoughts are Silent, Shelton received specific permission from the movie鈥檚 director, Antonio Lukrich, to screen the film at 91制片厂. Meanwhile, the film professor compared 2021鈥檚 Stop-Zemlia to John Hughes movies such as Sixteen Candles and said that Mavka: The Forest Song (2023) offers an opportunity to showcase a family-friendly movie that tells stories from Ukrainian folk mythology.
鈥淚 want people to come and see something different,鈥� Shelton said. 鈥淲hat are young people in Ukraine like? You might get a sense from watching one of these movies.鈥�