site.btaInternational Ethnographic Film Fest OKO to Present 100-Plus Titles from 61 Countries

The fifth edition of the International Ethnographic Film Festival OKO will take place in Bolhrad, Ukraine's Odessa region, between September 8 and 15, and in Sofia between November 8 and 15, the organizers of the event told BTA on Friday. This year, the festival will screen over a hundred titles from 61 countries.

A total of 88 films, including documentaries, feature films and animations, will compete in four categories. Films that do not compete will be screened as part of two separate programmes, while films from previous editions of the fest will be included in the retrospective programme.

This year's edition of the fest will be unveiled with a screening of A Poem for Little People, directed by Ukrainian Ivan Sautkin. The film was shown for the first time at the Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist in 2023.

Two discussion panels, entitled "The Cultural Heritage of National Minorities: A Valuable Resource for Cultural Diplomacy" and "National Enlighteners/Leaders and History. What is common between Ukraine and Bulgaria?", are planned as part of the event. The programme will also include a seminar entitled "Why we want to return to our roots in troubled times" with blogger and philologist Sofia Bezverha.

OKO will be closed with Seven Blessings, a film from Israel directed by Ayelet Menachemi. In 2023, the film won 11 Ophir Awards from the Israeli Film Academy.

Founder and Managing Director of the ОКО International Ethnographic Film Festival, Tetiana Staneva, said: "Now Oko Festival has two homes, Ukraine (Bolhrad) and Bulgaria (Sofia). As a Bulgarian from Ukraine, I am very happy to introduce these two cultures to each other, to tell them about the everyday life, the pain and hope of these two nations dear to me and close in spirit. We are officially a Ukrainian-Bulgarian festival, so we focus on screening Ukrainian cinema in Bulgaria and Bulgarian cinema in Ukraine, on what unites us and what sets us apart."

OKO has been a Ukrainian-Bulgarian festival since 2023. OKO (an acronym in Ukrainian that stands for Association of Creative Personalities) brings together filmmakers and folklorists, film buffs, and those who honour customs and traditions.

The OKO Festival specializes in ethnographic and anthropological documentaries and feature films exploring the everyday life of small and large peoples, communities, rural and urban residents. It provides filmmakers, folklorists, ethnographers and anthropologists with a platform to get to know each other, share ideas and plan future cooperation.