Wheelchair accessible, English subtitling
This screening is part of Samizdat’s Ukrainian cinema strand.
Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival presents a UK premiere of Ivan's Land (Земля Івана) as part of its inaugural edition. Directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Andrij Lysetskyj, this poignant documentary film has previously been programmed in 2021 by Docudays UA International Documentary Human Rights Film Festival and Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.
Ivan Prykhodko is one of the last folk artists of Ukraine. He is self-taught, lives in a small village, and creates sincere folk-inspired paintings in between feeding his animals and working the fields. Ivan's perception of the world is full of beauty and joy. One day, he is offered to present his paintings as part of an exhibition at the Art Arsenal, the main exhibition center in Ukraine. Arriving at the art gallery, he is met with both an intense enthusiasm and the urge to intellectualize his art for a contemporary art circuit. Will he exchange his small village hut for a life in the city, and a society of art critics and agents?
Content notes: Limited references to war.
Access notes: Mix of bright and dark images, visual storytelling, some loud sounds (singing, instrumental music).
Curated by Elizaveta Makarova
Director’s Statement
Being truly happy - what does that mean? Affluence? Power? Acknowledgement? Ivan, the protagonist of our documentary, lives at the edge of a small village in a house built over 100 years ago and standing on bare ground covered with straw. Surrounded by nature, his closest friends are his dogs, cats, and goats, but one can’t find a happier man.
I first met Ivan about two years ago as I heard of him being the last master of the once well-known tradition of Polissya Folk Painting.
He acquired his knowledge and skills from his aunt Halyna Kolenchenka, who herself was taught the secrets of the craft by her grandfather Vasyl. Unfortunately, Ivan’s children never displayed the desire to share their ancestor’s passion. Therefore, the artistic hereditary line will end here and the family tradition will be lost with him.
Ivan has gone through many challenges in his lifetime – the famine of collectivisation, the horrors of World War II, and slave labour at a Soviet collective farm.
For Ivan, his art made it possible for him to be a free man. In his universe, the wonderful sculptures, animals, and birds carved out of wood overcome evil, indifference, and injustice. They carry the timeless wisdom of life that Ivan has accumulated over the many years. Furthermore, they display his belief of living in harmony with nature and the urge to maintain it. The seasons and forces of nature conduct the rhythm of his life and are the inspiration for his art.
As it became evident during the shooting, this documentary is not only about the master painter and a unique tradition of a vanishing art form. [It] is most of all about a happy and well-adjusted human being, living in his own harmonious universe. It’s a person that does not have much in the material world – the virtue so characteristic of our time – but has created his own world instead, [the flaws of] which he exposes through his art.
His thought provoking example raises many questions, putting modern industrial societies way of life to the test by challenging its principles and values.
Director’s biography
Born in Kiev in 1982, Andrij Lysetskyj is part of the third generation of the most talented DOPs in Ukraine. He graduated from the Kiev National Karpenko-Kary University with a major in Cinema and Television, and his current filmography comprises 30 films and numerous awards. Ivan’s Land is his .