On March 18, ASF invites you to a screening and fundraiser on behalf of Ukraine, with all ticket sales and donations going to support relief efforts in Ukraine, featuring the U.S. Premiere of director Andrei Zagdansky’s “direct cinema” documentary National Museum (Ukraine, 2021), exploring the art and inner workings of the major art institution in Kyiv, Ukraine, and the short film The Witch and The Cow by Latvian director Signe Baumane. Following the film screenings, directors Zagdansky and Baumane will hold Q&A sessions about each of their films.

In National Museum, restoration specialists, curators, art handlers, designers and visitors become fascinating characters in an unhurried, poignant and occasionally funny survey as they work to curate, mount, and open two special exhibitions — one dedicated to Ukrainian baroque and another one to prominent avant-garde artist Alexander Bogomazo. Nominated for the Golden Duke at the Odessa International Film Festival, 2021 and Best Documentary at the Ukrainian Film Critics Awards 2021, National Museum explores what is cherished and revered by the nation of 45 million (90 min. In Ukrainian with English subtitles). At a time when Ukraine’s museums and cultural organizations are under attack, Zagdansky’s documentary highlights the importance of Ukraine’s vibrant cultural life and heritage.

Prior to the documentary screening, Signe Bauman’s short film The Witch and The Cow is an allegorical tale of a small witch’s attempt to milk an enormous cow (Latvia, 1991. 2 min 40 sec).

Tickets to this event must be purchased in advance online at the link above. All attendees are required to follow all Scandinavia House safety protocols, including wearing masks in Victor Borge Hall and observing social distancing rules in signage. Please read our full safety protocols here.

About the Directors

Award-winning documentary filmmaker, member of the European Film Academy, Andrei Zagdansky was born on March 9, 1956 in Kyiv, Ukraine, back then a part of the Soviet Union. He received an MFA with distinction from Kyiv State University of Theatrical Arts. His first feature documentary, the seminal Interpretation of Dreams (1990), juxtaposed the filmmaker’s dialog with Sigmund Freud and the history of the Soviet Union. The result was “interesting and provocative” (Vincent Canby, The New York Times) and an “astonishing marriage of Freudian thinking and history” (Boston Globe). The film was awarded with the Grand–Prix of the last “All– Union” Documentary film festival in 1990 (the Soviet Union ceased to exist the following year) and premiered at the opening night of IDFA that same year. In 1992 Andrei and his family relocated to the United States. In 1994 he received a Rockefeller Fellowship. He taught several film courses at New School in New York. He directed/edited/produced a number of feature documentaries, among them Vasya (2002), a groundbreaking film that intertwines documentary footage with animated sequences, about a Soviet/Russian underground artist Vasily Sitnikov, Konstantin and Mouse (2006) is a double portrait of an avant-garde figure and performance poet Konstantin K. Kuzminsky and his wife Emma, nicknamed Mouse. Orange Winter (2007) chronicles and dissects political turmoil in the streets of Kyiv in 2004, that was later dubbed “Orange revolution.”

Signe Baumane is a Latvian-born independent filmmaker, artist and animator with an interest in a wide variety of narrative themes, including sex, pregnancy, bodily functions, love, marriage, and the individual vs. society. Many of her films are told with a strong female point of view. Her latest projects — the feature films Rocks in my Pockets and My Love Affair With Marriage — fuse animation with music, theater, science, photography, lighting, three-dimensional sets and traditional hand-drawn animation. Signe is a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow in Film for New York Foundation for the Arts.  Her 16 animated shorts have screened collectively at over 500 film festivals including Berlinale, Sundance and Annecy. Rocks In My Pockets premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2014, went to over 150 film festivals and opened theatrically in the US through Zeitgeist Films. Since 2015, she has been working on My Love Affair With Marriage, which will premiere in 2022.