Toronto Ukrainian Film Festival set to showcase artists’ work amid invasion

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TORONTO – Several films will screen at the first Toronto Ukrainian Film Festival, set to take place next week.

Organizer Roman Lysiak says the festival will celebrate contemporary Ukrainian artists and filmmakers in the midst of Russia’s invasion of their country.

He says he aims to support those who are defending Ukraine’s national identity on the front lines.

The volunteer-run festival includes a screening of “Pamfir” from director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, which debuted at Cannes last year.

Nariman Aliev’s 2019 film “Homeward/Evge” will also screen, alongside Valentyn Vasyanovych’s “Reflection,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021, and 2020’s “The Earth is Blue as an Orange” by director Iryna Tsilyk.

The festival is set to take place at the Royal Theatre in Toronto from March 10 to 12, and all films will be shown with English subtitles.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2023.