SOLIDARITY EVENT FOR IMPRISONED UKRAINIAN DIRECTOR OLEG SENTSOV AT CINEMA BROTFABRIK, BERLIN
On April 19th 2012 Ukrainian Director Oleg Sentsov presented his feature film debut at the goEast competition. End of 2013 he supported the protests on the Kiev Maidan as an activist amd opposed Russian annexation of Crimea. On 10 May, he was arrested by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) in his flat in Simferopol and taken to Moscow where he remains in custody. The accusation: member of a terrorist organisation and planning of terrorist attacks. Sentsov denies the charges.
In cooperation with goEast > Festival of Central and Eastern European Film, the European Film Academy and Film Festival Cottbus the Cinema Brotfabrik (Berlin) presents Sentsov’s film GAAMER. With the presentation of the film we protest against Sentsov´s imprisonment and request support for the director.
GAAMER / Ukraine 2011 / 92 min
Young Alex still lives with his mother, but he is as
spectral a presence in the home as in the technical college he
nominally attends. Real life, for him, is the virtual world of “Quake”, a
computer game in which Koss, as he calls himself, is a champion much
admired by the young, inexperienced players he repeatedly beats. Alex
spends every spare minute in front of his computer screen, and after he
joins a popular team his vast ambition begins to pay off. He finds
himself travelling to international tournaments, winning trophies,
enjoying minor celebrity status with insiders. But something’s lacking
in his life: the first cracks begin to appear in the façade of
indifference in which he masks his passion for the game. And how is he
supposed to cope with defeat when it’s all about winning? A
coming-of-age drama from Ukraine, shot in semi-documentary style, that
refrains from passing judgement. First-time director Oleg Sentsov draws
up a gripping and thoughtful portrait of a young man trapped inside a
gamers’ world that looks much like a childhood that refuses to end.
Thursday, 11.09.2014 / 7 pm / Brotfabrik Berlin, Caligariplatz 1, 13086 BerlinReservations: karten@brotfabrik-berlin.de
