Pamfir

Surowy i przejmujący do szpiku kości film pokazywany premierowo na tegorocznym festiwalu w Cannes. Mroczny portret ukraińskiej prowincji w formie kryminalnego dramatu. Dawny przemytnik Leonid, zwany przez znajomych Pamfirem, pracuje w Polsce, by uczciwie zapewnić byt rodzinie. Po powrocie do domu, wioski na granicy Ukrainy z Rumunią, musi zmierzyć się ze swoją przeszłością – jego syn podpala cerkiew, która okazuje się własnością mafii. Leonid musi uruchomić dawne przestępcze kontakty, by spłacić dług, a każda decyzja bohatera wciąga go coraz głębiej w sieć korupcyjnych i kryminalnych układów.

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The mysterious figures in devilish masks and straw costumes are reminiscent of folk horror movies, but the preparations for Malanka, a folk celebration of the New Year, are more like a backdrop for a dark crime drama. Leonid, aka Pamfir, gave up smuggling years ago to earn honest money in Poland. After a long absence, he returns to his home village somewhere on the Ukrainian-Romanian border. The yearning son sets fire to the local Orthodox church - he believes this will keep his father at home. The problem is that the temple no longer belongs to the church, but to the local mafia. Leonid must reach out to his old criminal contacts to pay off the debt and every decision he makes draws him deeper into a web of corruption and mafia dealings. War is almost absent from the story - there are mentions of fighting in the Donbass and of someone who died at the hands of separatists - yet Pamfir has a weight and darkness in him as if it were an omen of the drama to come. After the Cannes première, the director admitted that his movie took on a new meaning after the Russian invasion. All of a sudden, there is this connection to what is happening now, making it seem like some kind of