French Spring in Kyiv
Despite the snow, there is a warm spring wind from the west blowing in French culture, not just to Kyiv but across all of Ukraine. Breathe it in.
Opening
French Spring opens this year, as it always does: available to one and all on Sofiivska Pl. This year, one of Ukraine’s most innovative directors, Vlad Troitsky, takes the reigns, to present Air. Promising a performance both spectacular and significant, four 20-metre towers will form pant of the stage, featuring more than 100 performers.
“Part of the idea is to combine a symphony orchestra with modern bands – sounds like madness, doesn’t it?” says Troitsky. “On one of the towers there will be the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in its full grandeur, two others will be for Nova Opera and Dakh Daughters, while the fourth will showcase Grammy-winning conductor from Luxemburg, Gaas Waltzing. All of these constructions will have animated videos, which will also appear on the façade of St Sofia Cathedral. At the end of the show, the whole machinery will start to breathe…in what way remains a secret up until the show.”
The motto of the performance is the French revolution slogan “liberte, egalite, fraternite” – freedom, equality, brotherhood, which Troitsky says highlights the three most of important human values. While they are often being speculated on, one never knows what freedom is until you are not free. According to the director, the message therefore is to try to feel how we, as Ukrainians, are free; to what extent we are ready to be equal, which includes our leaders also. “Brotherhood is about trust, something greatly lacking today – we don’t trust each other or the future, but there is an opportunity to re-evaluate these notions,” says Troitsky. “The performance poses questions and I would like people to think them over.
The music for the opening night of French Spring has been written exclusively by French composer Pierre Thillois, with text from the New Testament, Nostradamus, and the International Bill of Human Rights. It should be an incredible evening.
Air – Opening of French Spring
31 March at 18.30
Sofiivsky Pl
Dogs of All Kinds cinema-concert
2 April at 19.00
Stage 6 (Dovzhenko Centre, 2 Vasylkivska)
Domergue-Litvinyuk Project jazz concert (France, Ukraine)
3 April at 19.00
32 Jazz Club (Vozdvyzhenska 32)
From Text to Image: a retrospective of cinematic adaptations
4-8 April
Kiev Cinema (V Vasylkivska 19)
The Pure White exhibition by Samuel Ackerman (France) and Oleg Lychyga (Ukraine)
5-13 April
Art 14 Gallery (Mykhailivsky 14)
Concert of Two Clowns by Les Rois Vagabonds (France)
11 April at 19.00
Theatre in Podil (Andriivsky Uzviz 20b)
A Long Night of Short Films
13-14 April at 23.00
Ukraina Cinema (Horodetskoho 5)
Remi Panossian Trio (France)
17 April at 20.00
Bel Etage (Shota Rustavelli 16)
Photo exhibition by Guillaume Harbaut (France)
18 April – 5 May
Taras Shevchenko National Museum (Shevchenko 12)
Today We Do Not Dine
Play by Jules Audry
Les Malades
Play by Antonino Alamas
18 and 26 April at 19.00
Golden Gate Theatre (Shovkovychna 7a)
Des Reglements exhibition of graphic works by Igor Ouvaroff (France)
19 April – 5 May
Kyiv Art Gallery (Tereschenkivska 9)
Meet and greet with writer David Foenkinos, with presentation of the book Delicatesse
19 April at 16.00
Kiev Cinema (V Vasylkivska 19)
Jacques Rouvier in concert, piano (France)
20 April at 19.00
National Philharmonic of Ukraine (Volodymyrskiy Uzviz 20)
Gala concert featuring Jean-Louis Serre (baritone), Ivanna Plych (soprano), and the Dumka choir with the National Symphonic Orchestra of Ukraine under the direction of Fabrice Gregorutti
23 April at 19.00
National Philharmonic of Ukraine (Volodymyrskiy Uzviz 20)
Pierre Zevort in concert, organ (France)
24 April at 19.30
National House of Organ & Chamber Music (V Vasylkivska 22)
France in Ukraine recruitment forum
26 April at 10.00
Ukriane House (Khreschatyk 2)
Inversions
Two artists – French photographer Philippe Bertrand and Ukrainian painter Mykola Bilous, have never met. They work with different media and in different techniques, have different tastes and experiences, but have created a single art project, Inversions. The Inversions project is about an interchange, a reshuffle,” says curator and owner of Tsekh Gallery, Oleksandr Schelushchenko. “Small black and white photographs by Bertrand have been replicated in colourful one-and-half metre paintings by Bilous. It’s like a battle between them – which artistic media is more powerful in terms of visual influence. It’s quite an artistic challenge – to deliberately place original works, and their copy, in one space, and see which one is more significant – the photo, or a post-photo. Despite the rivalry, the goal is that they become one piece of art – the original or the work and its interpretation.” Following its close in Kyiv, the project travels to Vilnus.
Inversions exhibition by Philippe Bertrand (France) and Mykola Bilous (Ukraine)
6 April – 30 June
Tsekh Gallery (Kyrylivska 69)
Film festival of previews
There can be no French Spring without French flicks. France’s latest cinematic productions feature dive deep into the question of eternal existential doubts, fears, and challenges.
Film Festival of Previews
19-23 April at 16.00
Kiev Cinema (V Vasylkivska 19)
Jelouse (Jealous)
Psychological thriller featuring true French humor about a caring mother who gradually becomes fiercely jealous with her young ballerina daughter as the first to suffer.
Jeune Femme (Young Woman)
A Golden Camera award was won at the Cannes Film Festival last year, for this film which tells the story of heartbroken Paula who returns to Paris after a long time away and tries to start a new life.
La Villa
Three sons meet at their family house on the seashore of France to look after their elderly father, but the idyll is interrupted by unexpected guests.
Ce qui nous lie (The Thing that Unites Us)
Three heirs come together to revive a winery – they argue, fight, harvest the grapes, make wine, and of course, enjoy it all.
L’Exchange des princesses (The Princess Exchange)
Back in 1721, two infant princesses were made to bring peace to two kingdoms and sacrifice their own happiness.
Lulu femme nue (Lulu the Naked Woman)
One day, Lulu does not come home as usual: instead she lets her husband take care of the kids and escapes to the seaside to find her self.
38 Temoins (38 Witnesses)
A mystery of the murder of a girl, about which none of the witnesses can shed any light on, except for one who keeps hearing the girl’s screams at night.
Rosalie Blum
A classic romantic story of a lonely man, who entertains himself making paper kites, meeting a lonely woman.
Villa Amalia
Pascal Quignard’s novel about a woman-composer, who leaves her past and escapes for solitude to an Italian island.
Seuls (Alone)
A 16-year old girl gets up in the morning to find she is alone in an abandoned and ruined city. Only later does she discover that there are other people left alive after a catastrophe.
Lana Nicole Niland
Kateryna Kyselyova
