FILM EXPERT ANDRII ALFEROV: «As long as Ukraine is not culturally represented, it remains non-sovereign!»

Andrii Alferov. Photo source: facebook.com. Artwork: Olena Burdeina (FA_Photo) via Photoshop.

The culture of nations is not confined by state borders or ethnic affiliation. In this sense, Ukrainian culture is no exception. Ukrainians have co-authored various projects — from the idea of the Russian Empire to American Hollywood.

We spoke with renowned Ukrainian film scholar, director, and curator Andrii Alferov about how to preserve and expand our heritage by converting victories on the battlefield into assets of influence.

There is a myth that the culture of a people is created exclusively by its own representatives — outsiders have no place in it. But is that really the case? For example, the great Ukrainian film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors was directed by an ethnic Armenian from Tbilisi.

This myth is nonsense, as it ignores historical experience. The leading ideologue of radical Ukrainian nationalism — the spiritual father of the OUN — bore the Russian surname Dontsov. The best films about Rome were made by visiting artists who were not born there but were deeply in love with the city.

We see Rome through the eyes of Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Paolo Sorrentino. It was precisely those who «came from elsewhere» who invented the image of Rome we admire today.

Another example: Brooklyn native Woody Allen has spent his life singing praises to Manhattan — the «matrix» of all modern cities. He literally constructed Manhattan, populating it with characters from his world of intellectual glamour. Manhattan became «Manhattan».
There is an important phenomenon — outsiders often have a sharper eye. In the Ukrainian highlands of Verkhovyna, Parajanov encountered a hermetic society where every aspect of life — birth, wedding, funeral — was subordinated to beauty. Why had no one immortalized this before Parajanov? The answer is simple.

The keen cultural vision of an outside observer, combined with a sensitive perception, produced this stunning result. Moreover, as a bearer of both Georgian and Armenian traditions, Parajanov fused three mountain cultures in this artistic experience.
In other words, to see beauty, one must choose the right focal distance.

I was reminded of the stunning film Baraka by American director Ron Fricke, which was shot in 24 countries across hundreds of locations. It’s an attempt to penetrate the profound essence of a unified human civilization through the lens of diverse cultures: Asian, African, Latin American…

Yes, Ron Fricke’s film essay is, in a way, a continuation of the documentary masterpiece Koyaanisqatsi (1983) by the legendary director Godfrey Reggio, where Fricke worked as a cinematographer. By the way, at the end of September, Reggio unveiled his new film Once Within a Time, produced by American filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and Ukrainian producer Oleksandr Rodnyansky.

It’s a fantastic and truly unique film, even for Reggio himself, created after a 10-year creative pause. It explores the clash of two forces — nature and civilization — and the choice between destruction and redemption. Just like in Qatsi, Once Within a Time features the grand music of composer Philip Glass, which is an integral part of the narrative.

Interestingly, Glass is a descendant of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania and Belarus. So, even in this example, we see how masterpieces can be born in a multicultural and multiethnic environment.

To a great extent, in the realm of genius — in the domain of culture — there are no «outsiders».

At various points in its history, Ukraine was part of different states: the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Soviet empires. What is contemporary Ukrainian culture in light of the heritage passed down from these former epochs?

Modern Ukrainian culture is a reflection of Ukrainians’ lives. Anyone can author a reflection on the life of Ukrainians, regardless of their place of residence or ethnic background. If we make a film about the Ukrainian diaspora in Portugal or Canada — it becomes a part of Ukrainian cultural heritage.

There is a brilliant film by Leonid Osyka titled The Stone Cross, based on the work by Vasyl Stefanyk. At the end of the 19th century, a man named Didukh and his family emigrated to Canada. The main character tries to till the soil, but the land has become hardened — like the human soul. It’s a powerful metaphor that opens the film.

At the end, after a farewell feast, the Didukhs enter their house and, instead of traditional embroidered shirts, they dress in European black suits, looking like a family of the dead. Before leaving, the father orders a memorial service at the village church and erects a stone cross — burying his own soul and those of his family.

This remains a pressing question for us today: how do Ukrainians live in emigration, and do they preserve a piece of Ukraine within themselves?
We know that some people from our country have built brilliant careers abroad. For example, the parents of American director Edward Dmytryk — one of the key figures of Golden Age Hollywood who worked with Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, and Humphrey Bogart — were from the village of Buriakivka in Volyn.

He always remembered his roots, although he never made a film dedicated to Ukrainians. Another example is two-time Oscar winner and Hollywood Western star Jack Palance (born Volodymyr Palahniuk), whose parents came from the Ternopil region. He consciously identified as Ukrainian until the end of his life and even spoke Ukrainian.

These individuals are an important part of Ukrainian culture, and at the very least, we should acknowledge and explore them. It’s time to carry out a cultural revision.

I believe our schoolchildren could benefit from a special course on Ukrainian culture abroad. At Huxley, there’s a section titled «Roots and Wings», curated by Borys Burda. He has authored hundreds of biographies of prominent global cultural figures with Ukrainian roots.

Indeed, there are many such individuals — and not only ethnic Ukrainians. Let us remember the hundreds of Ukrainian Jews who played a major role in building the history of Hollywood — that alone would warrant an entire historical and cultural institute!

There are also examples of American filmmakers taking an interest in the lives of Ukrainian communities in the U.S. Michael Cimino, an American of Italian descent who grew up on Long Island, made The Deer Hunter, in which Robert De Niro plays a member of the Ukrainian community. That film went on to win five Oscars!

This brings up another question: how can we prevent Ukraine from continuing to act like a cuckoo, laying its cultural children in foreign nests? Granted, there have been difficult periods in our history — revolutions, pogroms. But what causes talented individuals to leave Ukraine even during relatively stable times?

We often talk about emigration to the West, but during the Soviet era, there was also internal migration — people moved from Ukraine to Moscow or Leningrad in pursuit of opportunities for self-realization. If we take a closer look at the Soviet elite, we’ll see that nearly every third person was Ukrainian.

But didn’t Ukrainians in the Soviet Union feel condemned to cultural inferiority and provincialism?

We may have been a province within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, in the case of the USSR and the Russian Empire, Ukraine was never merely a province. Ukraine was a co-founder of that project.

Let me remind you that it was the rector of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy who authored the concept of the imperial project, which he presented to Peter I. Later, a significant number of Ukrainians held top positions within it. By contrast, under Piłsudski’s Poland, such examples are notably absent.

We are disastrously disinterested and inattentive toward our own culture and history. In our attitude, we often behave barbarically — just like the Bolsheviks once did. Primitive sharovarshchyna has nothing in common with a respectful cultural reflection on the complexities of Ukrainian life, both within and beyond the country. Reducing a large and complex nation to a narrow ethnic group is to impoverish and rob ourselves.
Moreover, it’s tactless and disrespectful toward non-ethnic Ukrainians who are now fighting on the front lines of this horrific war. Russians, Georgians, Armenians, Gagauz, Tatars, Jews — they are united not only by a patch that reads «AFU» (Armed Forces of Ukraine).

What truly unites them is a shared value system, which is expressed in works of culture. That’s why it is the duty of the cultural elite to restore and preserve what is great and unique — what has been forgotten by officials out of negligence or ignorance

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I recently spoke with a businessman from Donbas who is restoring the palace of Count Lanckoroński — the first appointed Cossack hetman — in the Lviv region. When he saw the building in its dreadful condition, he thought: «What bastards we are! A nation has no future if it can’t even save such beauty». When Donbas restores Lviv — it’s deeply symbolic.

All our hope lies with the middle class — they are, in my view, the real Ukraine. This is the Ukraine that not only fights but also drives economic and cultural development. I know many people who, without relying on state support, are doing a great deal of cultural work — often invisible, yet crucial for the future. I try to do the same.

Today, we need a cultural mirror — something to look into in order to better understand ourselves and, based on that, make sound decisions. We need thought leaders who are capable not only of articulating real cultural issues and challenges but of solving them.

Otherwise, we’ll be like people who gathered their most valuable belongings in one house, and when looters broke in on February 24, they said, «Take it all». Such an attitude toward cultural heritage will one day leave us looking around and realizing: our house is empty!

The Americans — or the French, for that matter — do the opposite: they invite great artists in. How many Germans fleeing the horrors of Nazism found refuge in Hollywood, which gave them the opportunity to contribute not just to America but to global culture: Fritz Lang, Bertolt Brecht, Marlene Dietrich, Erich Maria Remarque. And Einstein?

France has long welcomed filmmakers and still does. American directors Jules Dassin and Joseph Losey found a home there, as did Andrei Tarkovsky and Otar Iosseliani. Even before the war, Andrey Zvyagintsev emigrated from Russia to France. They aren’t afraid to enrich their own culture with outsiders — and they thrive because of it.

Once, the artist Pavlo Makov told me: «You can’t be a famous artist from an unknown country»…

I completely agree with him. If we don’t convert the current global attention into cultural influence, we will eventually need enormous resources to achieve it later.

And one more thing… We can talk endlessly about the greatness of Ukrainian culture. But we must start with ourselves. Go out and ask people on the street: «Who has read Khvylovyi?» Most won’t even remember who that is. And if you ask them to name Ukrainian classic film directors, the best you’ll get is Dovzhenko. Unfortunately, our cultural heritage is always «not the right time» — whether in peacetime or now…

Here, I would again point to the American experience during the Great Depression. President Roosevelt understood that it was crucial to find new mechanisms to keep American society from falling apart during that terrible time. He initiated a large-scale reassessment of the entire cultural and historical heritage — to better understand themselves and figure out what to do next.

Now take a look at how the reassessment of values is happening in Ukraine today. It’s not really clear: is Gogol ours or not? Let’s throw the imperialist Bulgakov out of our culture! And what about the monarchist Sikorsky — should we discard him too? No, he’s too important — let’s keep him! We must put an end to this chaos and conduct a proper cultural audit, following the example of the Americans

What, in your opinion, would such a cultural audit and reassessment give Ukraine?

Today, there is a lot of debate about Ukraine’s subjectivity or lack thereof. But if we are still not culturally articulated, what kind of full-fledged subjectivity can we even speak of? We explore other countries through culture — through artistic images, any meaning reaches us far more effectively.

People who have never been to New York still have a vivid idea of it, shaped by Hollywood, which has filmed thousands of movies about the city. Through cinema, America constructs its identity and way of life — and then broadcasts it to the rest of the world. When we think of visiting Paris, we inevitably recall what we’ve read about it — from Zola, Hugo, and other writers…

Sadly, nothing like that exists when it comes to Ukraine — our country remains a culturally unrepresented periphery of the civilized world. It’s almost astonishing that anything vibrant and original manages to grow on this wild, uncultivated ground. Take DakhaBrakha, for instance. This project by Vlad Troitskyi has done far more for cultural diplomacy and representation of Ukraine than all our official institutions combined.

Let’s say the cultural department of an embassy is given access to Alain Delon’s mansion — so what? That alone does nothing to advance Ukrainian culture or integrate us culturally with Europe. Replacing a Soviet party card with an embroidered shirt is not a cultural strategy.

My experience presenting Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors at the Venice Film Festival showed me clearly this approach does not work. You cannot endlessly harvest likes by feeding on Europeans’ empathy and the trauma of war.

Our cult of embroidery, our appeals for sympathy, and our constant calls to ban something will never mean more to them than a brilliant film, an outstanding voice, or a major international exhibition project. Yet, we have no cultural strategy. We haven’t worked on one in the 32 years of independence. Unlike our northern neighbor.

Where exactly are we losing?

When Russians launch a grand cultural project in Europe — say, dedicated to Tarkovsky — it’s done with such power that all of Paris comes to see it. Meanwhile, our «performances» usually look pale and unconvincing, attracting mostly members of the diaspora.

Yes, on the battlefield, we have demonstrated bravery, strength, and courage — and the whole world admires that. But now it’s time to fight not only for Ukrainian territory but for Ukrainian culture as well. We’re in a situation where icy wind is blowing through the open windows of a Ukrainian home — and we keep fueling the fireplace with dollars.

When thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are shedding their blood every day, it is criminal to waste time, energy, and money on completely ineffective forms of cultural diplomacy. Right now, we are «spending down» the reputation of a country that, at an incredible cost, is resisting a fascist regime

Don’t you think that the Ukrainian government’s cultural policy is merely an extension of its fears? There is fear of expressing views that might be unpopular in society, fear of going against deeply rooted mental frameworks.

If a person lacks a well-reasoned position, they cannot be a true subject. In that case, you’re doomed to follow the irrational reactions of the collective unconscious — chasing instant ratings, hype, and likes. Just drifting with the current. By the way, why does a fish always swim against the current?

First, overcoming resistance keeps its muscles in a constant tone. Second, a massive amount of incoming plankton accumulates in the gills. With humans, it’s the opposite: fear and the threat of public disapproval force them to go with the flow, to keep their heads down… Only strong individuals are capable of going against the crowd and working for the long term.

Everyone else either boards the jackal express or practices a culture of silence. Sometimes, I feel that behind the cancellation of someone’s culture lies the cancellation of culture itself — in general. And that is a tragedy.

Before it’s too late, we must realize that the practice of constant cancellations and prohibitions is incompatible with cultural development and European integration. It carries serious risks for Ukraine

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