LJUKSEMBURG, LJUKSEMBURG

Kolya and Vasya's father, originally from Yugoslavia, built up a small-time criminal empire in Lubny. He is strong, respected and time and again rescues his children from precarious situations. At some point he simply disappeared, life went on. In the meantime, Vasya has become a policeman. He never gets promoted however since Kolya keeps getting into trouble with the law. When he learns from the Ukrainian consulate in Luxembourg that his father is in hospital there, he wants to see him at all costs, preferably with Vasya. Employing no small amount of situation comedy, Antonio Lukich describes a society in which, with the help of dubious deals, it is the nouveau riche that call the shots. Law and morality are secondary here; instead, what matters are status symbols such as expensive cars or vacations in Bali. The main focus of this autobiographically inspired film however, which took no small amount of effort to complete in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is family loyalties. The changing times are also reflected in the alternating football shirts, changing as they do from the red of Eric Cantona to that of Fernando Torres.

Text: Kira Taszman

English: Peter Rickerby

Weltspiegel: Original version with English subtitles + German simultaneous translation.

Weltspiegel Saal 2: Original version with English subtitles

This film is part of the Ukranian Day at FilmFestival Cottbus.