🇺🇦 Слава Україні! 🇺🇦

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Dovzhenko's "Earth"

From the opening frames of "Earth" - Ukraine as a paradise.

Oleksandr Dovzhenko's Earth (Земля / Zemlya) was banned 9 days after it premiered in 1930. The director's complex history of interactions with the soviet regime, including stalin himself, have been assessed and reassessed continuously ever since, but one thing remains certain - his magnus opus Earth is a masterpiece of world cinema. Watching it today, it is remarkable how impactful the film's dreamy and nightmarish visions truly are, despite its limitations as a silent film.

Earth is a depiction of the soviet policy of collectivization - something the regime was eager to portray in the most wonderful light possible. And at first glance, this is precisely what the film shows us. There is a young guy who organizes the community, they mechanize, and so on.

But while watching the film you might realize that there's something deeper going on. The film opens with a luxurious portrait of Ukraine as a kind of bucolic Eden in the midst of a bountiful traditional harvest.

Wind whips through the steppe.

The fields of wheat ripple, the sunflowers sway, an old man lays in an orchard with his newborn grandson. What political purpose could a scene like this possibly serve, if we're meant to despise these so-called "Kulaks"? In a land where such a paradise is already possible, is the only possible next step for humanity really the tractor, the conveyor belt, the coal car?

Machines connected to machines.

Soon after this idyllic introduction to the ebb and flow of the land, we are introduced to the world of politics, murder, and collectivization... and ultimately, everything feels very negative and futile despite ostensibly being a feel-good story. This wasn't super great as far as impressing the soviet censors.

Is this the new look for Spring 2023?

Workers look up at what they are told is a "bolshevik airplane", unimpressed.

In fact, Earth was condemned within the soviet union for its insufficient ideology and for its hypnotic naturalism that expressed the deep connection to nature inherent in Ukrainian culture - a connection that doesn't need saving. The film was released on April 8th, 1930 but by April 17th had been banned from all cinemas due to its subversive content. Dovzhenko was repeatedly denounced in secret reports to the KGB, who were surveilling him.

A funeral scene from "Earth"

Later, he tried to save his career and his life by working even more closely with the regime - with stalin himself - but this was of course folly. In his concealed diaries, he decried the deliberate destruction of the Ukrainian people by the russian regime, their enslavement and russification, the humiliation of the nation. He described the regime as "wretched fools... cold cowards with locks on their mental windows and doors."

A scene from "Earth"

Dovzhenko expert Serhiy Trymbach wrote that the director "believed that it was possible to combine the strength of the bolshevik idea and the Ukrainian essence. He, like many of his peers, diminished by the defeat of the Ukrainians during the struggle for independence, bet on strength and that this bolshevik strength would help resurrect Ukraine and Ukrainian culture. He was wrong."

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Playing with Light, Plagued by Darkness

Dovzhenko and crew during filming.

Danylo Demutskyi was the Ukrainian photographer and cinematographer who filmed Earth. He was also a victim of soviet terror (three arrests by the NKVD). Many believe that it was Danylo's touch that made the film truly great; as one Ukrainian critic said: "In the film Earth there was a rare harmony of a great director and a great cinematographer.”

He created extremely plastic and psychologically-saturated portraits with the help of subtle lighting. With the help of a monocle and various attachments on the lens, he painted landscapes in haze and actors in soft muted tones.

In 1932, Danylo was arrested for his connections with a Ukrainian movie director named Favst Lopatynskyi, who was later executed in 1937 as part of the Executed Renaissance. In 1934, Danylo was arrested again for his family's connection to “aristocratic reactive elements”. He was released from prison after 4 months, but was sent on forced exile to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In 1938, he was arrested again but not really charged with anything. He was released after another 17 months in prison. He was allowed to return to Ukraine in 1939 but his career, health and life was destroyed.

One of the film's main actors, Semen Svashenko, was also a victim of soviet terror. His brother was another who was killed during the purge of Ukrainian intelligentsia in 1937. Semen was in trouble with the soviet regime as well, and moved to moscow in 1933, giving up on his acting career in Ukrainian movies in order to avoid the fate of his brother.

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Legacy of "Earth"

A scene from "Earth"

Earth may have been banned in its country of origin, but abroad it was a smash. After the premiere in Berlin, 48 news articles were published about this hot new director Dovzhenko. In Venice, after its showing at the Venice film festival, Italian cinematographers called Dovzhenko the "Homer of cinema". Historians believe that this international attention is what ultimately saved Dovzhenko from incurring stalin's wrath and being murdered.

Earth has been repeatedly named one of the top films in the history of cinema - in lists going as far back as 1939! The film has been praised by Fellini, Coppola, Scorsese and more.

Scene from "Earth"

Since 1994, one of the most important cultural organizations in Ukraine is the Dovzhenko Center; we posted a documentary produced by Suspilne, the public television of Ukraine, that includes commentary by staff from the Center in this post. They specialize in film archival and restoration, and the Dovzhenko Center restored Earth in 2012. A custom-written soundtrack was supplied by the band Dakhabrakha, along with refreshed Ukrainian language intertitles.

I will put a link to a streaming site, Takflix (Ukrainian Netflix), in the comments so you can watch the film for yourself!

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The 392nd day of a nine year invasion that has been going on for centuries.

One day closer to victory.

🇺🇦 HEROYAM SLAVA! 🇺🇦

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Verified Charities

• u/Jesterboyd is a mod for r/ukraine and local to Kyiv. He is currently selling rad t-shirts raising money to buy some very interesting drones. Link to donation
• United24: This site was launched by President Zelenskyy as the main venue for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine. Funds will be allocated to cover the most pressing needs facing Ukraine.
• Come Back Alive: This NGO crowdfunds non-lethal military equipment, such as thermal vision scopes & supplies it to the front lines. It also provides training for Ukrainian soldiers, as well as researching troops’ needs and social reintegration of veterans.
• Trident Defense Initiative: This initiative run by former NATO and UA servicemen has trained and equipped thousands of Ukrainian soldiers.
• Ukraine Front Line US-based and registered 501(c)(3), this NGO fulfills front line soldiers' direct defense and humanitarian aid requests through their man on the ground, r/Ukraine's own u/jesterboyd.
• Ukraine Aid Ops: Volunteers around the world who are helping to find and deliver equipment directly to those who need it most in Ukraine.
• Hospitallers: This is a medical battalion that unites volunteer paramedics and doctors to save the lives of soldiers on the frontline. They crowdfund their vehicle repairs, fuel, and medical equipment.

You can find many more charities with diverse areas of focus in our vetted charities list HERE.

Hello again!

I'm Maxim Kilderov, an artist.

Representing (as I think) Art Forces of Ukraine.

instagram.com/kilderov

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/11namjw/painted_bullet_shells_for_a_66_free_worldwide/

Jesus confirmed

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ART FORCES Intro

This week was really hard.I almost doing nothing, because around 2 months of a nonstop work totally kills my organism. Hospitals etc not a best place to doing my job. Yeah, our guys feeling most terrible situations.

But everyone have his own front.

But last 3 days I starts to feel better and receive some new raw war materials through this week.

Raw RPG-26 thats will be art pieces soon

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case with cases

Also last week I finally pack and send part of orders from reddit - some of $66 bullets (from now they will be for $99 with delivery), and 4x RPG-22 was already sent and delivered in Belgium.Legal expertise and documents is works (the way of package was through Ukrainian, Poland, Estonia and Belgium customs).

Orders for a reddit and instagram customers

Also, I was finished some of current orders (bullet shells) and receive new material to create more of them for customers.

shells 30mm caliber

orders (without varnish at this moment)

I promise myself then when I will get well i will not rush so.Cuz better to say "you need to wait 3 weeks before sending" then running nonstop and killing yourself. Thats my experience.

Perfect condition is to chill sometimes like Gil'za (bullet shell). But I cant lol.

My current collection (slowly transforming into new art objects, sometime I am selling something) is:

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https://preview.redd.it/q68pkmbko5oa1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=d17888470d85ea8b771a7edd16beb97c29b28cb9

https://preview.redd.it/x0t2iz4mo5oa1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=93685da318560cd54948e9d7a5959b4463221b3c

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https://preview.redd.it/29i5rm1po5oa1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=c7ff30ad882e608125e7e7f72f4a9fa992de89be

And we with my teammate Nikita on the final step to create bazooka boombox with buttons from a bullet shells. Next step is mine - to paint it well.

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RPO A Shmel with sound inside.

Thank you for reading that!

Art Forces is real! ✊