April 28 — Ukrainian animated short film “My Grandmother is a Skydiver” was selected for the La Cinef program at the Cannes Film Festival, said Polina Piddubna, the film director, to Gwara Media.
La Cinef is the official section of the Cannes Film Festival that focuses on films made by students at film schools. Out of 2,700 applications from film schools around the world, 13 feature films and three animated shorts were selected, including Piddubna’s film.
The “My Grandmother is a Skydiver” trailer is available on Vimeo.
The animation is about Polina Piddubna’s grandmother, Alfiia, who lived in Kharkiv and refused to leave when the full-scale Russia-Ukraine war started.
“My grandmother plants tulips in the garden while Kharkiv is constantly being bombed. She complains that the bees don’t pollinate her flowers, so there will be no fruits in summer,” said the film’s annotation.
In this film, the granddaughter tries to restore and redefine her ethnic identity, break the endless circle of generational trauma, and reflect on the purpose of human life, the description for the short film says.
“The film doesn’t consist of political statements, but through the personal story built on poetic images of skydiving and birth, the dialogue between granddaughter and grandmother, usage of various languages in the narrative — we move to the global catharsis, overcome the generational trauma, decolonize and unlearn,” said Polina.
The Jury will hand over La Cinef prizes at a ceremony preceding the screening of the awarded films on Thursday, May 22, in the Buñuel Theatre.
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