* Silver Eddy Award, Pro-Am Documentary (CRIFF, Cedar Rapids, 2012)
* Best Feature Documentary (WMIFF, Washington, DC, 2011)
* Award of Merit (The Accolade Competition, 2011)
SCREENINGS:
* 2012: Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival (Cedar Rapids)
* 2011: Landlocked Film Festival (Iowa City)
* 2011: World Music and Independent Film Festival (Washington, DC)
* 2011: "Kinoklub" Screening at Kinoteatr Kyiv (Kiev, Ukraine)
* 2011: NXNE, Toronto
THE STORY:
Russian-American lutenist and early music expert Oleg Timofeyev comes to Ukraine to teach early music performance for a year. He soon finds out that the largest country in Europe does not have an early music movement in the usual sense, dedicated to the recreation of European Renaissance, Baroque, or medieval repertoires. As he meets musicians, ensembles, and scholars, both official and underground, he wonders why this should be the case. He discovers the country’s epic tradition, its folk songs and vocal liturgy, often quite different from those in Western Europe, and not very well known anywhere else. These specific traditions of Ukrainian music making do not mix easily with Western Early Music, and even give contemporary reconstructions of old music a uniquely different flavor and style. The film presents performances by a range of Ukrainian ensembles, and concludes with scenes from the recording sessions of the crossover ensemble "Sarmatica." "Sarmatica" was founded by Oleg Timofeyev and his new friends. Their first album, combining Western Renaissance lute music from the "L'viv Lute Tablature" with Ukrainian musical styles, will be released on the Sono Luminus Label in May 2011.
Watch: Trailer
BACKGROUND:
The project began with the 7th L'viv Early Music Festival, which was held in October 2009 in Lviv, Ukraine. Practically the only Early Music festival in Ukraine today, it became an occasion for a broader exploration of the emerging early music movement in Ukraine, and the way it interacts with Ukraine's musical history and culture.
Interviews with distinguished artist Taras Kompanichenko (Kyiv), composer Danylo Pertsov (Kyiv), musicologist Prof. Nina Gerasimova-Persidskaia (Kyiv Conservatory), harpsichordist Svitlana Shabaltina (Kyiv Conservatory), bandurist Victor Mishalow (Toronto), and festival organizer, Roman Stel’mashchuk, are combined with selections from concerts and music recordings by the ensembles Chorea Kozacky (Kyiv), A cappella Lepolis (L'viv), lutenist and musicologist Oleg Timofeyev (Iowa City), ensembles Laude Novella (Åhus), Insula Magica (Novosibirsk), and Sarmatica (Kyiv/Iowa City).
