March 16, 2022

Easing Fear Through Film


Easing Fear Through Film

"Our mission, as workers in the sphere of culture, is not only to save culture itself from destruction, but to save those who value it."

– Yana Barinova, the director of the Kyiv municipal Department of Culture

As war continues to rage, the Kyiv Department of Culture and the Dovzhenko Center state film archive have begun organizing film screenings in bomb shelters to help ease the psychological effects of war.

Kyiv is typically home to 3 million, but since the war has begun around 2 million people have left the city. Those that remain in the city face continuous assault, which means that a great amount of time is spent in subway stations being used as bomb shelters. After Maria Hlazunova of the Dovzhenko Center saw images of those sheltering, she was inspired to create what she calls a "morale shelter" by having screening films.

It began with silent animated films during the night, silent for those who were able to sleep, but later on the archive donated more films, and they have begun doing screenings during the day as well.

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