It is nine in the morning in Kryvorivnia, a town of 1,500 souls in the Ukrainian Carpathians, about fifty kilometers from the Romanian border. In the small wooden church that dominates it, the priest Ivan Rybarouk opens a liturgy “for the freedom and dignity of [son] people “. He established this morning ritual more than a thousand mornings ago, when Russia launched its invasion, on February 24, 2022. It lists the first names of the region’s inhabitants who died in combat: “Yuri, Stepan, Iryna, Vassyl, Ruslan, Ganna…” The list is long and sometimes breathless.
However, sixty years ago, Kryvorivnia saw much happier days. The women with colorful scarves who listen to the priest, then children, remember well the numerous cars that suddenly arrived in May 1963 in this valley protected from the winds and the urban bustle by the mountains, with, in front, a very bearded man. hectic. This is how the epic filming of fire horses, the film that revealed director Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990). The first French screening of this film in a restored version will take place on Saturday, November 23 at the Christine Cinéma Club in Paris, during the Un Weekend à l’Est festival, which will last until Saturday, November 30.
In 1965, with the launch of fire horses, the whole world discovers the name of Sergei Paradjanov. The film received around fifty awards on all continents. Its creator cannot work in the USSR or leave the country. “Instead, give me a one-way ticket.”He laughs, invited to several festivals. When Charles de Gaulle traveled to kyiv in 1966, his wife Yvonne wanted to meet this author whose film had recently been screened in France. True to his way of impressing his guests, Paradjanov cuts off the electricity in the entire building on Victory Square in kyiv and places candles on each floor. METROme De Gaulle climbs six floors on foot.
Ukrainian Romeo and Juliet
Nowadays it is almost impossible to separate myth from reality in this sense. “land of the Houtsoules forgotten by God and the people”, just as presented in the movie. One thing is certain, according to Ivan Zelentchouk, curator of the Verkhovyna Nature Park and expert on Houtsoulia, this mysterious mountainous region: “On a holiday two hundred years ago, a man from the Paliychuk family was stabbed by his rival from the Guteniuk family in front of the church.” and his children, Ivan and Maritchka, They loved each other instead of taking revenge. In the old cemetery of the town, among dozens of crosses damaged by time, you can still read Gouteniouk’s name. As for the Paliytchouks, we no longer found any trace of them.
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