UKRAINIAN SHERIFFS by Roman Bondarchuk
(2016, Ukraine / Latvia / Germany, 84 min.)
In a country with the biggest police force in Europe, Ukraine, there is a lack of policemen in rural communities. However, one rural community has found a solution. On the mayor’s initiative, people chose two local men, two retired policemen, Victor and Volodya, and gave them power to take care of the public order, as well as a car, and named them “sheriffs”.
Ukrainian Sheriffs is a real life story about two local sheriffs and the villagers of a remote village near Crimea, Stara Zburievka. Following the sheriffs on their everyday duties, the story gives us a look beyond the war and the ongoing political events inside the everyday life of the villagers, foregrounding the tension between personal survival and political justice.
What was meant to be a film about a few people from the Ukrainian countryside and their everyday struggles, arousing mainly from prevalent unemployment, poverty and illiteracy, at the end portrays the faith of a whole nation during the turning period in its history.
Ukrainian Sheriffs won the IDFA Special Jury Award 2015 when world-premiering in Amsterdam for The Best Feature-Length Documentary, The Best of IDFA On Tour, at the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. It also won The Mayor of Gdynia Award at Docs Against Gravity (Warsaw, Poland).
It has been selected as the official submission for the foreign language Oscar category for the 89th Academy Awards.
Upcoming screenings:
Sat Nov 19 at 9.30am, Academy screening @ Samuel Goldwyn Theater (AMPAS only)
Sun Nov 20 at 11am @ Dick Clark screening room (2900 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica), Q+A with director and producer
Tue Nov 22 at 4pm @ Soho House, 9200 Sunset Blvd, Q+A with director and producer
Sun Nov 27 at 11am @ Dick Clark screening room, Q+A with director and producer
Sat Dec 3 at 7.30pm @ Laemmle Royal, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd, upstairs screening room
Wed Dec 7 at 7pm @ Ukrainian Institute, 2 E. 79th Street in New York, Q+A with director and producer
Sat Dec 10 at 7.30pm @ Laemmle Royal, upstairs screening room
RSVP:
Silversalt PR
Thessa Mooij
212.729.7071
thessa@silversaltpr.com