Kyiv Critics’ Week x NL: Fuchzhou
A strong wind sweeps Orest, the son of a Ukrainian emigrant, back to his village and separates him from his beloved. Determined to reunite, he embarks on a journey through extraordinary events.
Set at the turn of the 20th century and blurring the line between dreams and reality, Fuchzhou takes place in locations ranging from the Dnipro River to Florida and the Bermuda Triangle.
Fuchzhou as seen by Ukrainian critic Serhii Ksaverov:
As the debut feature of Mykhailo Illenko, the son of the prominent Ukrainian poetic cinema director and cinematographer Yurii Illenko, Fuchzhou naturally inherits the boldness and vividness of his father’s works, along with the connection to rustic Ukrainian culture. In some ways, the film can be seen as a sequel to another cornerstone of poetic cinema – Stone Cross. Like Stone Cross, Fuchzhou centers on emigration from Ukraine, drawing attention to similar themes that frame this act as both a physical and social death. However, it also serves as an anti-sequel, transforming the grey, grim nature of the original into farcical kitsch and turning the straightforward tale of death into a fable about weird afterlife.
Waiting for Cargo in the Roadstead of Fuchzhou Near a Pagoda, or simply Fuchzhou, was not conceived, filmed, or released like most films. It came to life like a Frankenstein monster, created during a time when the country’s cinema was torn between competing paradigms—Ukrainian, Soviet, and Western—both stylistically and thematically. By stitching together radically different elements, Fuchzhou audaciously captures the changing times like no other film of its era, addressing one of Ukraine’s most enduring tragic phenomena with bittersweet irony.
About the speaker
Hanna Datsiuk is a film critic, co-curator of Kyiv Critics’ Week, lecturer of the course on cinema at the Cultural Project, and one of the curators at the SWEET.TV streaming platform.
About Kyiv Critics’ Week
Kyiv Critics’ Week is one of Ukraine’s most prominent film festivals, showcasing the best of world cinema to local audiences, selected and presented by professional Ukrainian film critics.
