Screening of Babylon XX (1979), Directed by Ivan Mykolaichuk
On November 7 at 18:30, Jam Factory Art Center will screen Ivan Mykolaichuk’s Babylon XX as part of “The History of Cinema in Ukraine” programme.
About the Film
Fabian, a village philosopher, befriends a goat and observes the comical yet tragic life of Babylon, a village in Podillia. It is the 1920s: Soviet rule appears to have been established in Upper and Lower Babylon, but the traditional way of life is slow to change.
The beautiful Malva finds herself at a crossroads after her husband’s death. Brothers Danko and Lukian struggle to navigate their feelings and political allegiances, while a demobilised sailor, Synytsia, begins setting up the village’s first communist cell.
A clash between the old, patriarchal worldview and the new, revolutionary one becomes inevitable. Babylon’s small, everyday tragedies threaten to turn into a single tragedy shared by all.
Director: Ivan Mykolaichuk
Year: 1979
Country: Ukrainian SSR
Studio: Dovzhenko Film Studio
Runtime: 95 minutes
Genre: Poetic cinema
Cinematographer: Yurii Harmash
Cast: Liubov Polishchuk, Ivan Mykolaichuk, Les Serdiuk, Yaroslav Havryliuk, Taisiia Lytvynenko, Boryslav Brondukov, Liudmyla Chynsheva, Anatolii Khostikoiev, Ivan Havryliuk, Vitalii Rozstalnyi, Kostiantyn Stepankov.
Earlier that day, at 16:00, Stanislav Bytiutskyi will give a lecture titled “The History of Cinema in Ukraine: The 1960s–1970s. Poetic Cinema.”
📅 November 7 | 18:30
📍 Jam Factory Art Center, Auditorium
124 B. Khmelnytskoho St., Lviv
🎟 Admission is free with advance registration