// Sunday Cinema presents VIKTOR //

About Sunday Cinema:

Sunday Cinema is an experience of friendship, new and old: in breaking bread, evolving our conditioning and visions of the world, honoring bold acts of courage through filmmaking, literature, and celebrating the dazzling beauty of the human spirit.

What if filmmakers were our disciples? What if churches were built for cinema? We love seeing our village and the joy of connecting to our humanity and expanding consciousness together with incredible food, literature, and art. // Film screening + Literature Give Away + Brunch + Friends //

THE FILM

VIKTOR (2024)

Directed by Olivier Sarbil

Produced by Darren Aronofsky & Sigrid Dyekjær

Denmark, Ukraine, France, United States of America

189 min - Ukrainian, Russian

Viktor, a young Deaf man in Kharkiv, watches warily during the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A fan of samurai films and raised on stories of war, he dreams of becoming a warrior but is repeatedly denied when he tries to enlist. Eager to find purpose, Viktor embarks on a quest to find his place in the midst of a war he cannot hear.

One of the rare documentaries to premiere in the prestigious Platform program at TIFF, VIKTOR beautifully weaves black and white imagery with sound design that reflects Viktor’s own experience of the world. Acclaimed filmmaker and veteran war cinematographer Olivier Sarbil (MOSUL, ON THE PRESIDENT’S ORDERS) brought his unique experience with conflict and single-sided deafness to his relationship with Viktor, creating a close collaboration that is reflected in the personal, intimate story that unfolds on screen.

Schedule:

12:00 - Brunch Served

12:30 - Film begins promptly

2:00 - Q&A / Book Giveaway / Refreshments

3:00 - See you next time

Menu:

Chicken Blintzes (Non-Veg)

Olivier Salad (Non-Veg)

Darnitsky Salad (Veg)

Vareniki (Veg)

Coffee

Infused Vodka

Location:

Traktir Restaurant

8151 Santa Monica Blvd,

West Hollywood, CA 90046

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Why VIKTOR:

Dear Friends,

At the time of this writing 1427 days have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine in the winter of 2022. Throughout those days, European leaders, citizens, and residents continue to navigate an impossible line between holding hope for diplomatic unity with America, and drastically preparing for a future without it. When the possibility has arisen that NATO could dissolve from actions taken in the name of America, we have entered into an emerging new world order. The people of Ukraine are in a prime nucleus of this rupture, and amongst the headlines pulled from press briefings in Washington and Davos; history is being endured amongst the icy nights from Lviv to Donetsk.

That Olivier Sarbil has made a film seated in the eruption of these urgent circumstances in Kharkiv, Ukraine, illuminating the endurance, tenderness, and above all hope of the human spirit, it is a humanitarian and cinematic miracle that has occurred.

We feel it crucial to experience and embody the wisdom of this filmmaking culture. Viktor the film, a portrait of Viktor Korotovsky, makes vivid his experience as a non-hearing person with devotional ambition for civic duty at ground zero for what has become a seismic shift in modern geopolitical history. Since the invasion began in Ukraine, all global citizens have been called to navigate a cascading river of moral crisis in regions around the world - and the ways in which we experience these stories comes through a media proportion unimaginable decades ago. With this volume, the trajectory of the war has stretched its temporality into an arc testing the resolve of our collective narrative gaze. As the stories we tell become the myths we aspire to and the outcomes we fulfill, the nature of our gaze upon Ukraine writes our memory of what will come next for Nuuk, Minneapolis, and Gaza.

Viktor is a masterpiece of hope and it has emerged from the possible silence of erasure.

To us, Olivier’s camera is a magic lantern - not only seeing what is obscured from the eye in the night and fog of war, but also holding a catalytic power to materialize new becoming amongst otherwise impossible loneliness. The wisdom of this cinematic fission between filmmaker and contributor is not only an artistic milestone, it is spiritual work nurturing the human spirit to cultivate out of an encroaching nothingness, profound love. We hope that the love illuminated in Viktor can bring light to those who need it as it has brought light to us. If Viktor can envision the glow of brighter days, we feel propelled to do the same.

Warmest Wishes,

Rose & Bode

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Host or Publisher Avery Hellman, Rose Bush & Kirsten Bode