Special screening of "Babylon XX"

To mark the 95th anniversary of the Zhovten cinema, the screening series of iconic Ukrainian films continues. On July 29, it will feature Babylon XX—the directorial debut of Ivan Mykolaichuk, which has become a classic of Ukrainian cinema.

At the center of the plot is the funny yet tragic life of the Podilian village of Babylon in the 1920s. Fabian, the village "philosopher," befriends a billy goat and observes the inevitable clash between the old patriarchal way of life and the new collective farm system, where the small everyday tragedies of the residents turn into a single massive catastrophe.

Babylon XX is a unique example of folk-romantic cinematic storytelling and whimsical tragicomedy. Ivan Mykolaichuk not only directed the film but also wrote the screenplay based on Vasyl Zemliak's novel The Swan Flock, played the lead role, and composed the music. Despite Soviet censorship, cuts from two parts down to one, and a ban on screenings in Lviv, the film retained its free spirit and became truly cult-classic.

Traditionally, the special screening will be accompanied by an introductory lecture from Dovzhenko Centre film scholars. The film will be presented by Stanislav Bytiutskyi (@bytiutskyi), a director, film scholar, and head of the research and programming department at the Dovzhenko Centre.