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CINECITY

Earth (Zemlya) (Dir: Oleksandr Dovzhenko) with live score by Roksana Smirnova & Misha Kalinin

A mesmerising and beautiful hymn to nature, Earth (Zemlya) is recognised as one of cinema’s supreme visual masterpieces. It is a uniquely poetic cinema of the countryside, a paean to nature and those that toil the fertile earth of director Dovzhenko’s beloved Ukraine.

Incredibly, the film began as a propaganda assignment about the collectivisation of agriculture - the young people of the village welcome their first tractor, while the rich farmers plot to murder the peasants’ leader - which Dovzhenko transformed into a stunning work of cine poetry, a meditation on nature’s cycle of life and death.

Ukrainian musicians Misha Kalinin (electric guitar) and Roksana Smirnova (piano) perform a new, jazz-based score — impressionistic soundscapes and atmospheric improvisations adding new dimensions to Dovzhenko’s iconic close-ups and vast, sweeping landscapes.

Certification: U

Duration 105 minutes. Film images only with live music.

Screening material (and images) courtesy of the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre. This project is organised with the financial support of the UK/UA Creative Partnerships programme designed by the British Council and the Ukrainian Institute

Pay What You Decide

Pay What You Decide (PWYD) tickets are available for this event. These are limited to 20 tickets per performance, with a maximum of 2 tickets available per customer. Find out more