Weightless
SYNOPSIS
Khrystyna Bunii travels solo across remote south-west Ukraine in pursuit of her anthropological research. As she encounters people and digitises their family photo archives, conversations and interconnections emerge. Conducting visual research into the trans-national region of Hutsulshchyna, Bunii pursues a political practice of self-narration from the margins of representation.
International premiere. With the presence of the directors.
Why must you see it?
A young researcher in south-western Ukraine dedicates herself to preserving the memory of exile by searching for old family photographs with her scanner in tow. It becomes the perfect tool for an exercise in recovering a suppressed identity – that of the Hutsul people – through her own images and attire, as well as through close encounters with the characters she approaches. It’s a beautiful film whose ending is abruptly marked by the onset of war.
Andrea Guzmán
Marta Hryniuk and Nick Thomas
Marta Hryniuk (b.1991 Poland) and Nick Thomas (b.1990 UK) are artists and cultural organisers based in Rotterdam. They have worked together since 2019 collaborating on films, as well as leading workshops, programming, and assisting in video and sound production. Hryniuk and Thomas are founding members of WET film - a cooperative for film, video and artists’ moving image whose members collaborate on production and distribution, and who also run a project space and programme screenings and exhibitions. “Weightless” (2023) is their first feature length film; it was supported by Nederlands Filmfonds and premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Their experimental short film “Forces” is in the Eye Experimental collection. Before relocating to Rotterdam both artists combined their individual practises with cultural organising, in Poznań and Glasgow respectively.
Year: 2023
Country: Netherlands
Length: 73 min
Language: Ukranian, English
Subtitles: Spanish, English
Directors: Marta Hryniuk and Nick Thomas
Production: Marta Hryniuk and Nick Thomas
Cinematography: Marta Hryniuk
Editing: Diana Toucedo
Sound Design: Nick Thomas
Cast: Khrystyna Bunii
