Films by Flavia Oertwig

Ukraine, France, Germany 2023, 72 min
by Olga Chernykh

Olga Chernykh spent her childhood in Donetsk in the 1990s, before moving with her parents to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Her grandma stayed in the Donbas region, large parts of which were occupied by pro-Russian rebels in 2014. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the ensuing war, only increased the sense of distance between Chernykh and her grandmother.A Picture to Remember is an essay-style account of the war from the perspective of three generations of women. There are frequent video calls between Chernykh, her mother (a pathologist working above a morgue, where it feels surprisingly safe during bomb attacks) and her grandmother. Recordings of their conversations are interspersed with photos and videos from the family archive, and news reports, as well as images of the parasites Chernykh’s mother observes with a microscope. The result is a kaleidoscopic and personal film. Traveling fluidly through time, it connects the current violence in Donbas with the destruction there during the Second World War—as related by Chernykh’s grandmother. A sense of absence and loss prevails throughout. [36 IDFA]

Germany, Italy 2021, 95 min
by Daniele Coluccini, Matteo Botrugno

An uplifting but never sentimental documentary portrait of an extraordinary figure of 20th-century history.At 95, Lucy is the oldest transsexual woman in Italy and one of the few remaining survivors of the Dachau concentration camp. Her tumultuous life becomes a metaphor of the human will to persevere. Lucy’s reflections are not only full of wisdom, but also attest to a young-at-heart, almost indestructible cheerfulness. Above all, she is passionate about the cosmos. [39FFMUC]With: Lucy Salani, Porpora Marcasciano, Simone Cangelosi, Ambra Guarnieri, Louise Lisette Ngo Nyoung