The US director Oliver Stone (“Platoon”, “The Doors”) has created several successful cinema epics in the past – “Ukraine on fire” is not one of them. It is a visually stunning pseudo-documentary about the Maidan protests in Kyiv, in which Stone, as executive producer, conducts, among other things, a rather candid interview with Vladimir Putin. According to Stone, Ukraine is just a sunflower-lined playing field for world powers. The Ukrainians are either US puppets or radicalized nationalists. That the comparatively unknown film, almost half a year after the start of the Russian war of aggression, still finds an audience in Leipzig, Kiev’s twin city, of all places for outrage online and led to a physical argument on Thursday evening.
“Ukraine on fire” was shown as part of the “Globale”. The film festival has been showing documentaries critical of globalization at various locations in Leipzig since 2004. It is funded by the aid organization “Brot für die Welt” and the city itself, among others. 12000 euros are shown for the year 2022.
The film “Ukraine on fire” is a visually stunning pseudo-documentary about the Maidan protests in Kyiv, in which Ukrainians are portrayed as either US puppets or radicalized nationalists.
(Photo: imago images/Everett Collection)
According to the programme, the screening of “Ukraine on fire” was to be flanked by a conversation with a representative of the “Action Alliance Future Donbass”, which provides humanitarian aid in the separatist areas in eastern Ukraine. Russian war propaganda can be found on the club’s social media channels. A video shows a truck allegedly loaded with hospital beds driving through a bombed-out area. A Z flag stuck behind the windshield, symbol of the Russian invasion.
Mike Nagler, organizer and spokesman for “GlobaLE”, sees no problem in showing a film that largely adopts the world view of the Kremlin at a time when thousands of Ukrainian refugees are seeking protection in Germany and Leipzig. Rather, they want to “offer a space for critical discourse” and listen to voices “that are not currently in the media.” Nagler ran unsuccessfully as a direct candidate for the left in the federal elections in 2009 and 2013. Today he emphasizes that he was never a party member. He sees himself as part of the peace movement and is against arms deliveries, as these would only unnecessarily prolong the war. “Ukraine on fire” is just one of 40 films, says Nagler. It is not said that he agrees with the content one hundred percent. Then he calls Kyiv a “right-wing center in Europe.” He calls the Maidan revolution of 2014 a “coup”.
At the film screening on Thursday, interest was initially low, then there was “mutual bodily harm”
When the film is scheduled to start on Thursday, interest is manageable. About 30 people have made themselves comfortable on blankets on the banks of the Elster. The opening credits are just over when a group with drums enters the meadow in front of the screen, chanting: “There is no right to Putin propaganda.” A scuffle ensues, a young woman apparently tries to snatch the microphone from Nagler and is then pushed, another is said to have been hit in the face. “Just go home,” yells the moderator. “Go to Russia,” screams the young woman. The police must come in a message there is talk of “mutual bodily harm”.
Anna Perepechai is one of the protesters and part of the “Ostov Collective”an association of German and Ukrainian artists, they have just an exhibition completed. Perepechai came to Germany in 2014, shortly after the illegal annexation of Crimea, and studied photography in Leipzig. she organizes Help for refugees, documents demonstrations. Her parents still live in a small town near Chernihiv, she says. Her father died recently because the family was unable to reach a hospital under Russian fire. “I was at the Maidan,” says Anna Perepechai, I saw everything with my own eyes. “I’m not a puppet, I’m not a nationalist.”
“Bread for the World” now explains, the controversial film was not included in the program when the funds were approved. Future funding is therefore viewed critically. The city of Leipzig is also distancing itself in a statement on Twitter. “Nevertheless, we respect the freedom of art and promote it. In contrast to an authoritarian regime, a democracy can tolerate the showing of a film with dubious content.” When asked whether the said promotion will last, the city spokesman said SZ: “A festival where fisticuffs break out naturally has completely different framework conditions as far as municipal funding is concerned.”
The film evening itself, one can consider this a happy coincidence, does not end with the planned discussion, but with a heavy, cooling rain shower.