February 24, 2025 marks the third anniversary of Russia's large-scale attack on Ukraine. Not only the country was attacked, from the beginning it was clear that Russia was also and precisely attacking Ukraine's culture. Recent geopolitical developments bring great uncertainty to Ukraine, with potentially dramatic consequences.
With two special film screenings DutchCulture, the European Cultural Foundation and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam reflect on the great impact of this war. Together, they will present a double programme at the IDFA pavilion in Amsterdam's Vondelpark on 21 February. With two powerful documentaries followed by discussion and Q&A, they explore and highlight the resilience of the Ukrainian people and cultural sectors in this war.
17.00 - 18.30 Despite all, we work [2024]
This documentary by Cem Altınöz, made in collaboration with Dutch Culture and filmed during a five-day visit to the Netherlands, tells the stories of regional museum workers in Ukraine. In the face of immense challenges, they redefined their roles, showing the value of international solidarity. The film highlights how strength and resilience have become the cornerstone of the identity Ukrainians are trying to protect. Along the way, we get a taste of the passionate, sincere and sometimes humorous conversations between Ukrainian and Dutch museum professionals during their visits to museums across the Netherlands, from Enschede to Den Bosch.
Followed by a discussion with stakeholders in the visitors' programme: Kateryna Chuyeva (online) - independent museum expert and former vice-minister of culture of Ukraine from 2021-2023, Cem Altınöz, filmmaker, Arnoud Odding, researcher and strategic consultant for museums, and Tijana Stepanovic, consultant Central and Eastern Europe at Dutch Culture.
19.30 - 22.00 Songs of slow burning earth [2024]
Over two years and in different places, near or far from the front line, director Olha Zhurba collected the footage for this impressive, personal and at the same time metaphysical audiovisual album of the war in Ukraine.
From the invasion - the first explosions, the evacuation towards a safer place, queues of waiting people and columns of relief supplies - to the integration of the war into everyday life, with schoolchildren routinely going to air-raid shelters and women coming to morgues to look for their slain husbands. An abrasive soundscape moving from panic to quiet resignation, accompanies and connects the images, along with heartbreaking audio clips from phone calls to emergency numbers.
The heart of the film is a hushed, minute-long scene filmed from a death transport, greeted by kneeling residents at the roadside. The camera captures with patience, respect and an artful eye the suffering, fear and disillusionment, but also the anger, militancy and hope of a people under fire.
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with the creator Olha Zhurba, which is present via an online connection.
English (UK) 
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