On October 31 at 18:30, Jam Factory Art Center will host a screening of “Special Operation”, a film by Oleksiy Radynski. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the director Oleksiy Radynski and producer Lyuba Knorozok.
RegistrationAbout the film
When Russian troops occupied the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, all their actions were captured by surveillance cameras. The film is based on this footage, recorded at the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history.
The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone was occupied by Russian forces on February 24, 2022, during the first hours of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Russians turned the territory of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant into a military base in an attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital, located less than a hundred miles away. They detained the plant’s staff, forcing them to continue their work without proper rest or sleep.
According to the Russian plan, their troops were supposed to remain in Chornobyl for only three days — the time they thought it would take for Ukraine to fall. Instead, they became trapped in the contaminated zone for five weeks and ultimately suffered defeat in the battle for Kyiv.
Most of their illegal actions during this period were recorded by the Chornobyl plant’s surveillance system, which they failed to disable. The film “Special Operation” is entirely built from this footage.
About the director and producer
Oleksiy Radynski is a filmmaker and writer based in Kyiv. His work engages with political cinema and documentary forms. His films have been screened internationally, including at Berlinale, IFF Rotterdam, the ICA (London), Taipei Biennial, Docudays UA, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and DOK Leipzig. He received the Grand Prix at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival for Chornobyl 22 (2023). His recent work includes Infinity According to Florian (2022), Chornobyl 22, and Where Russia Ends. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has collaborated with The Reckoning Project.
Lyuba Knorozok is a film and media producer based in Kyiv. Her recent projects include Chornobyl 22 (Grand Prix at Oberhausen), Infinity According to Florian (Rotterdam IFF 2022), both directed by Oleksiy Radynski, and Forever-Forever by Anna Buryachkova (Venice Film Festival 2023). Since 2022, she has been part of The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies, which documents war crimes through storytelling and legal testimony.
The screening will be held in the original languages (Ukrainian and Russian). The discussion will be conducted in Ukrainian.
When: October 31, 18:30
Where: Lviv, 124 B. Khmelnytskoho St., “Auditorium” Hall
Free admission with registration:
The Stammering Circle is a project of Faktura 10, a core initiative of RIBBON International, curated by Marta Kuzma, Chief Curator and Artistic Director. The foundational sites of The Stammering Circle exhibition are the Jam Factory Art Center, Dim42 LPE “Lviv Radio”, and the Machine Hall of Lviv Polytechnic National University.