The Ukrainian drama Pamfir has come to Great Britain’s and Ireland’s cinemas. The Ukrainian State Film Agency reports that screenings began on May 5 in over 25 cities. Moreover, the film will be available on streaming platforms from June 3.
The main character, Leonid, nicknamed Pamfir (“Stone”), is a former smuggler who ended his criminal past. After returning to Bukovyna from a job abroad, the man seeks to establish a family life. However, his son Nazar carelessly destroys these plans. A teenager sets fire to the local house of prayer. Leonid breaks his promise and renews smuggling to pay for the boy’s wrongdoings. Expectedly, new crimes provoke devastating consequences.
Pamfir is the debut feature film of Ukrainian screenwriter and movie director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. The plot is based on the biblical story of Abraham, and the drama’s climax occurs during the long-awaited Malanka Ukrainian folk holiday.
“This movie from western Ukraine is one of the strangest and fiercest I have seen in a while: dynamic and yet despairing. It does not allude to Russia’s war on Ukraine, but perhaps that conflict is there subtextually, in the sense of tribal loyalty, community tradition and the distinct, almost occult pull towards the west,” The Guardian‘s film critic Peter Bradshaw writes about Pamfir.
The film was shot in the Carpathians and Bukovyna in the fall of 2020. Pamfir premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where it was nominated for the Golden Camera Award for the best debut feature film. Since then, the drama has won at least 18 more awards at the world’s best festivals. The authors report that Ukraine has already collected almost 11.5 million hryvnias (approximately 310,000 dollars) after the seventh screening weekend. According to box office data, this is one of the best results among Ukrainian dramas.
More than 20 countries have acquired public performance rights for the film. The list of cinemas in Great Britain and Ireland and the dates of Pamfir screenings can be found on the official distributor’s website.
Photo: Conic Films distributor
