Legacy of the Cold War
November 23, 2015
An Ottawa Film Festival Début
Presented in partnership with the Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum, Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, St. Paul University, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania, Embassy of Ukraine, The National Film Board of Canada, Ukrainian National Federation (UNF Ottawa-Gatineau), Latvian National Federation in Canada, and Baltic Federation in Canada. Andris Ķesteris
Friday, November 27, 2015 7:00 PM Ekskursante (The Excursionist)
Lithuania, 2013, 110 minutes (English subtitles)
Director: Audrius Juzenas,
Saturday, November 28, 2015 7:00PM
The Sweetest Embrace: Return to Afghanistan
Canada, 2008, 74 minutes
Director: Najeeb Mirza,
Meet the Director in Person
Sunday, November 29, 2015 7:00PM The Guide
Ukraine, 2014 122 minutes
Director: Oles Sanin,
Premiere screening in Ottawa of this award winning production
St. Paul University Amphitheatre
223 Main Street, Ottawa
**(metered parking available on North side of building or on side streets)
$10/General Admission, $5/Students Tickets available at the door
Special appreciation for their contribution to the success of this festival to: Rev. Peter Galadza, Tomas Margaitis, Nadia Vozdigan, Najeeb Mirza, Henriette Riegel, Megan Lafrenière, Hugo Lāma, Jānis Zariņš….
Friday, November 27, 2015 7:00 PM
Ekskursante (The Excursionist)
dir. Audrius Juzenas
Lithuania, 2013, 110 minutes
Lithuanian and Russian with English subtitles
Previously screened by the Canadian Film Institute at the Baltic-Nordic Film
Festival in Ottawa, this film has been brought back by popular demand!
One of the most ambitious Lithuanian productions of recent years, THE EXCURSIONIST is an inspiring true story taken from a dark period in the nation’s history. After World War II, Europe was divided in two parts and the state of Lithuania found itself on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain. In the 1950s, under the yoke of Stalinism, hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians were deported to gulags in the Soviet Union. Marija, an orphaned eleven-year-old girl, escapes from a transport train and sets out on a 6,000-mile trek back home, posing as a Russian and
keeping her true identity secret in the face of suspicion and cruelty. This film is based on a true and extraordinary story. English sub-titles
Saturday, November 28, 2015 7:00PM
The Sweetest Embrace: Return to Afghanistan
Canada, 2008, 74 minutes
Director: Najeeb Mirza
Meet the Director in Person
Najeeb Mirza is a documentary filmmaker with years of work experience and travel in Central Asia. His love for the region – rich with history, culture and natural beauty, though little known in the West – has led him to share its extraordinary stories through film.
This full-length documentary tells the story of two Afgahanistanis who return in search of their families after a 16-year exile. Like many Afghan children, Soorgul and Amir were sent to Tajikistan during the Soviet occupation of their country. Soorgul was only ten years old when he said goodbye to his family in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan.When the Soviet Union collapsed, the civil wars that broke out on both sides of the border left the children stranded, unable to leave the country until
Canada accepted them as refugees.
The Sweetest Embrace tells an intimate story set against one of the world’s most harsh yet beautiful landscapes, in a land where life has been shaped by war and hardship but where spirit remains resilient.
Soorgul and Amir Image from www.oxusfilms.com
Sunday, November 29, 2015 7:00PM
The Guide (Povodyr) Ukraine, 2014, 122 minutes Director: Oles Sanin,
Premiere screening in Ottawa of this award winning production
The Guide (Ukrainian:Поводир, Povodyr) is a 2014 Ukrainian drama film directed by Oles Sanin. It was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the
Soviet Ukraine, 1930s. American engineer Michael Shamrock arrives in Kharkiv with his ten-year-old son, Peter to help “build socialism”. He falls in love with an actress Olga who has another admirer, Commissar Vladimir.
Under tragic circumstances, the American is killed and his son is saved from his pursuers by a blind bard (kobzar). With no other chance to survive in a foreign land, the boy becomes his guide. Wikipedia
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