The series will screen and discuss the new feature narrative film “Birds of Paradise” 2008, by Roman Balayan. Born in Nagorny Karabakh and educated in Kyiv, Balayan considers himself a student of legendary Serhiy Paradzhanov. However unlike his teacher, Balayan has avoided references to Ukraine in his films and used it instead as a geographical location rather than a cultural destination in his stories. His films represent an influential trend in the culture of a post-Soviet Ukraine deeply rooted in the imperial Russian mentality which denies Ukrainians a voice of their own. “Birds of Paradise” is about a Soviet writer in Kyiv in the early 1980s who challenges the regime in his quest for personal freedom. People can openly voice their thoughts only in private kitchens behind curtained windows. The KGB tapped phones, surveyed the ‘unreliable’ and consistently destroyed all forms of decent. The protagonists challenge the inhumane regime, risk their lives and prove that nobody can stop a person striving for freedom. Roman Balayan explains, “It is important for me to make a picture that confronts and pushes the viewer to face their own feelings and thoughts. It is important that even the most thick-skinned person feel what it means to have no freedom … so that the times when people could not speak the truth stay for ever in the past.” The film is one of the last roles played by celebrated Russianactor Oleg Yankovsky.

The film is in its original Russian/Ukrainian language version with English subtitles. Free and open to the public.