Prairie Ukrainian Film Festival returns for second successful year
PUFF showcases best of Ukrainian filmmaking, offers insight into country's history and culture
By Paul Sinkewicz
The power of cinema to tell stories – whether joyful, poignant and heartbreaking, or just plain escapist fun, was on full display recently at the Prairie Ukrainian Film Festival (PUFF).
Returning for its second year, PUFF 2024 showcased seven acclaimed contemporary Ukrainian films over the course of four days, from June 13 to 16, at Remai Modern and the Ukrainian Museum of Canada.
PUFF was presented by the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage (PCUH) at St. Thomas More College, the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Remai Modern Art Gallery, and Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Saskatchewan.
Curator Dr. Nadya Foty-Oneschuk, Interim Director of PCUH, said film has the power to reach people in a way other mediums simply cannot match, and is a potent tool in sharing the history and culture of Ukraine.
“PUFF 2024 was a resounding success,” said Foty-Oneschuk. “It was, arguably, PCUH’s biggest success of the last year.”
This year, PUFF attracted over 500 people of all ages from across the province during the four-day event. It included award-winning documentaries, dramas and even the children’s animated feature Mavka: The Forest Song.
The seven acclaimed films presented at the festival delved into the complexities of Ukraine’s past and present, and covered a wide range of themes, from historical and current hardships and cultural resilience to heartfelt and humorous explorations of family, relationships, fairy tales, and even a punk band.
The PUFF People’s Choice Awards for 2024 was the Academy Award-winning 20 Days in Mariupol. Ukrainian filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s film offered a window into the practices of conflict zone reporters and an unflinching, anguishing account of the 20 days he and colleagues spent covering Mariupol. The film draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. It offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe.
The other films presented in 2024 were: The Guide (2014), Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story (2023), Hutsulka Ksenya (2019), Shchedryk (2022), Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2022).
To find out more about PUFF, visit their Facebook page at:
