Storyville Specials

A young filmmaker Igor Ivanka finds a hidden and unpublished photo archive of his grandfather Leonid Burlaka, a famous Soviet cinematographer. Discovering a man that he never knew well enough through the damaged pictures, he gets closer to his dementing grandpa, facing the tension between memory and forgetting. The Ukrainian cinematographer Igor meets a young Soviet cinematographer Leonid, who started establishing his career during the 'Khrushchev Thaw'. However, time is running out: soon Leonid will not remember Igor at all. Part of Storyville at Eurovision.

The story of vinyl – past and present – taking in the fandom, the production, its sound, and its history including its road-bumps, and a new generation of fans that smash the stereotype of it being the preserve of older white males. The vinyl record renaissance over the past decade has brought new fans to a classic format and transformed our idea of a record collector: younger, both male and female, multicultural. This same revival has made buying music more expensive, benefited established bands over independent artists, and muddled whether vinyl actually sounds better than other formats. Part of Storyville at Eurovision.

For five teenagers living in the conflict-ridden Donbas region of Ukraine, a Himalayan expedition provides a brief escape from reality. A portrait of a generation that, in spite of everything, is able to recognise and celebrate the fragile beauty of life. Part of Storyville at Eurovision.

A tale of resolute faith and devoted fandom. Jeremy Deller and Nick Abrahams capture the touching, rebellious and bizarre side of what it means to love a band and their music. Part of Storyville at Eurovision.

In early 2022, the small Ukrainian town of Bucha near the capital, Kyiv, was occupied by the Russian army for several weeks. After a month of intense fighting, the Russian Army withdrew, leaving the town destroyed in its wake. Now, as they clean their streets of debris and re-build their shattered homes share, the residents of Bucha are starting to share their stories. Yuri, a municipal service manager, struggles to keep people supplied with clean drinking water. Olenka is the only child in her class after two of her friends were killed - the rest having fled the country. In the midst of suffering, a young couple gets married, and life goes on. This heart-rending yet empowering documentary tells stories of loss, hope, and resistance, as the spring flowers of Bucha begin to bloom. Part of Storyville at Eurovision.

Based on the acclaimed English National Ballet production, choreographed by Akram Khan and directed by Academy Award-winning director Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy, The Warrior), Creature is a genre-busting collaboration that fuses film, contemporary dance and music in an immersive and visceral film. In an abandoned arctic research station, Creature (Jeffrey Cirio) is unknowingly enlisted into an experimental military programme. While enduring extreme conditions, Creature falls in love with Marie (Erina Takahashi) a compassionate cleaner who also has the unwanted attention of the station’s violent mayor. Part of Storyville at Eurovision.

A gut-wrenching glimpse of the brutal realities of life and death on the Eastern front in Ukraine's fight to keep back Russian invaders. Director Yevhen Titarenko is part of the “Hospitallers”, a volunteer medical battalion working on the front line of Ukraine’s bloody Eastern Front. His crew are involved in ever-more dangerous frontline missions. The fierce fighting in and around Kharkiv pitches them into rescue missions so dangerous that, more than once, they lose members of their team. Ambulances are blown to pieces, along with medics and patients, by mines or shells. The film shifts from scenes on the frontline in the east to home leave with the family in the west. At times disturbingly raw and direct, yet always enlightening, this film shows in close-up how a nation is fighting for its survival. Part of Storyville at Eurovision.