“Afterwar.” Photographs by Lori Grinker

“Afterwar” by American photographer Lori Grinker is another significant exhibition at KievFotoCom, an international festival of photography, currently being held in Kyiv.

Famous American artist started her career as a sports reporter. She took photos of 13-year-old Mike Tyson, who she documented for the following decade. Since then, in addition to her coverage of events such as the destruction of the World Trade Center, she has delved into several long-term projects: “The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women,” and “Afterwar: Veterans from a World in Conflict” which she presents in Kyiv.

“Afterwar” originated in Israel and the Occupied Territories just prior to the first intifada, in 1986. Grinker’s intention was to produce a photo-essay about Arab-Jewish cooperation, but she did not encounter many instances of cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis. The artist did, however, meet Israeli veterans who inspired her to document their lives after war during the rehabilitation process. In these former soldier’s experiences, she heard echoes of the experiences of Vietnam veterans from the United States.

In 1989, with support from Life Magazine, Grinker traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia to photograph ex-combatants from different sides of the region’s conflicts. Thus began a 15-year journey seeking out other veterans’ stories.

Art Arsenal Gallery
28 Ivana Mazepy, 288-5140.
Through Nov. 5.
From 11 a.m. till 7 p.m., every day except Monday.
http://www.kievfotocom.com/

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

Bob Sinclar

Bob Sinclar, a French deejay and producer, is going to play in Kyiv at the Free Fat VIP Performance party. Sinclar doesn’t require a special introduction since his hits can be heard all over the world: in a taxi in Tel Aviv, in a restaurant by the sea in Madagascar, on a coach station in Bombay, in a new-age bar on Venice Beach, in New York or Ibiza.

Sinclar started deejaying in 1986, when he was 18 years old, specializing in funk and hip-hop music, under the name Chris The French Kiss. For the first time, he lit up dance floors with a fit “Gym Tonic” in 1998. But when his debut album “Paradise,” with such hits as “The Ghetto” and “Ultimate Funk” appeared, everybody understood that “Gym Tonic” was only his warm-up. Sinclar’s last hits “Love Generation,” called “The hymn of an entire generation,” and “Rock this Party,” definitely raised him to the Olympus.

The 41-year-old deejay is a welcome guest at the most expensive parties. His performance costs no less that the pop star’s fee. His hit “World, Hold On” topped in Billboard Magazine as Number One Hot Dance Club Play Single of 2006, beating Madonna and Christina Aguilera. Bob Sinclar’s success, probably, lies in his ability to make making music that is both sophisticated and popular, house music that is equal parts glamour, pop and sexy.

Lavra Gallery
17 Mazepy, 8 (067) 505-4760.
Oct. 30, 9 p.m.Tickets Hr 350, Hr 500.

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

Photo www.hitexpress.cz

Modolist Film Festival

Ukraine’s main movie event of the year, Modolist (Youth) Film Festival is going to take place in Kyiv Oct.18-26. The festival will distinguish best young moviemakers, including feature film and short film debuts, as well as student movies. Besides, plenty of great works will be demonstrated as a part of non-competitive program, including special showings, shorts collections and retrospectives of legendary actors and directors. The Honorable president of this year’s Molodist is President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, and the co-heads of Board of Trustees are actor Gerard Depardieu and Hares Youssef.

As usual the festival expects lots of famous guests from the cinema world, but as it often happens, their names are kept secret till the last moment. However the composition of 38th Molodist’s international jury was already announced. The jury will be headed by American actor Armand Assante (“Napoleon and Josephine: a Love Story,” “The Mambo Kings” “Blind Justice,” “The Odyssey”), who played the lead role in the Romanian movie “California Dreamin,” recently shown in local theaters as a part of, “Molodist Premonition” mini-fest.

Other members of the jury include Russian actress Alla Demidova, acting in the movies and theater since 1970s; Hungarian director Andras Fesos, mostly known for his short movies and documentaries such as “Tale in Sarajevo,” “Want to Reach the Sun” and “Horse Race at New Year’s Eve”; Ukrainian artist Serhiy Yakutovych, the illustrator of numerous literature editions and art director of Ukrainian films “A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa” and “Taras Bulba” (still in production); Gaga Chkheyidze, the head of International Tbilisi Film Festival and Yuriy Makarov, Ukrainian TV host, journalist and writer.

The program of the festival is vast and exciting, featuring over 400 movies, with many films shown in original with subtitles or live translation. But because most films will be shown just once during the fest, it’s best to plan your film program and get the tickets in advance!

More information on http://www.molodist.com

Christina Aguilera

Probably the main music event this fall, Christina Aguilera’s first show in Kyiv is already close at hand. Her appearance in Ukraine’s capital sparked some hysteria right from the start. First of all, her show at Palats Ukraina was to become the most expensive concert in Ukraine’s history. Despite impressively steep prices, most tickets were sold, but still lots of Kyivans weren’t able to attend the show. Luckily, Christina agreed to give another one, a cheaper concert at Palats Sportu.

The second big news was that pop diva’s managers proposed Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak, who won second place at Eurovision 2008, to sing for free as a warm-up act on Christina’s concert. Ani Lorak thought it an insult and, of course, refused. And finally, until now, skeptics don’t believe Aguilera will perform in Kyiv at all, after she abolished her concert in Moscow scheduled on Oct. 16.

Yet optimists believe the 27-year-old singer will come and present her greatest hits album, “Keeps Gettin’ Better – A Decade of Hits,” scheduled for release on Nov. 11. With this album, Aguilera will commemorate her 10 years in the music industry. It will include No. 1 hits at the Billboard Hot 100: “Genie In A Bottle,” “What A Girl Wants,” and “Come on Over” from her debut album “Christina Aguilera,” released in 1999. The new album will include also two songs from her second full-length English album “Stripped.” One of them, “Dirrty,” was highly criticized for its controversial video, while another, classical ballad “Beautiful” earned Aguilera the Grammy for best female pop vocal performance. And, of course, the album couldn’t be full without “Ain’t No Other Man,” a lead single from the last “Back to Basics” album, which won Aguilera yet another Grammy.

Palats Sportu
Palats sportu metro, 246-7406
Oct. 20, 7 p.m.Tickets Hr 200 – to Hr 2,500.

Palats Ukraina
Palats Ukraina metro,
103 Chervonoarmiyska
Oct. 21, 7 p.m.
Tickets Hr 250 to Hr 9500.

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

photo news.online.ua

KievFotoCom

An international festival of photography, KievFotoCom, will last until Nov. 9. It presents one of its first exhibitions “Adventures in Cross-Casting” – photographs by Diana Blok. A project of the Dutch photographer, created in 1997, it includes 30 portraits of actors from the Theater Institute Netherlands. The creative artist asked them to play roles in front of the camera, roles in which they have dreamt about during their whole lives onstage. But they couldn’t play them, as they were meant for the opposite sex. Then the photographer and her camera were the only witnesses to how men transformed into women, and vice versa, and how people change their characters.

Portrait is Diana Blok’s favorite genre. It is a perfect method to capture a person’s true self. She takes photo portraits of her friends and relatives and even of Dutch prisoners. Her photos are included in private collections in New York, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and Helsinki.

Diana is a true citizen of the world. She was born in Uruguay, spent her youth time in Columbia, Guatemala and Mexico. She studied photography by herself and opened her first exhibition at 25 years old. Now at her 56, Diana is a lecturer in prestigious Royal Art Academy in Hague.

Soviart
22A Andriyivskiy Uzviz, 425-2219.
Adventures in Cross-Casting, through Oct. 23.More information at www.kievfotocom.com.

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

photo from KievFotoCom

Jazz in Kyiv

Jazz in Kyiv festival http://www.jazzinkiev.com_/) is going to make Kyiv a European jazz capital for three days. Concerts and master classes of world stars and the best Ukrainian jazzmen, jazz photo exhibitions and movies. Kyiv hasn’t seen so much jazz before!

The idea of the project was to present all kinds of jazz music. The guests of the first day will be Swedish musicians New Tango Orchestra, which actually don’t play jazz but their appearance at the festival will be a commemoration to Argentinean music and creator of new tango, Astor Piazzollo. “New Argentinean tango is a kind of music which jazz musicians are fond of,” explained Oleksiy Kohan, art director of Jazz in Kyiv. First day finishes with British bassist Dave Holland, a representative of modern jazz, three times Grammy winner. He will have a great support with his band each member of which is a star itself.

The best Ukrainian jazz musicians will start the second day of the festival as a part of Misha Tsyhanov’s United Quintet and Alex Fantayev band. The day will finish with Ukrainian-Israeli bassist and vocalist, Avishai Cohen, with a new vocal project. He will perform ethnic music, his own compositions and improvisations.

The third day will start with unique American guitarist Charlie Hunter, whose guitar has five guitar strings and three strings from bass on which he played using his left thumb. The headliner of the fest will be inimitable master of vocals, Al Jarreau, the only singer in history who got Grammy awards in three categories at once – jazz, pop and R&B. It will be his first concert in Kyiv.

International Center for Culture and Arts
1 Instytutska
Oct. 17, 7 p.m., tickets Hr 60 to Hr 500.
Oct. 18, 5 p.m., tickets Hr 80 to Hr 750.
Oct. 19, 6 p.m., tickets Hr 150 to Hr 950For tickets call 8095-111-5577 or buy them on-line on www.jazzinkiev.com.

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

photo http://www.amazon.com/.

Evening of pantomime

A second season of pantomime art starts in the House of Actors, where the best Ukrainian mimes, directed by Volodymyr Kryukov, will show their mastery. Ukrainian mimes, as all mimes in the world, considered themselves followers of France’s Marcel Marceau. In turn, the famous Frenchman learned from Charlie Chaplin, who founded the image of “small man.” Marcel Marceau’s main image was a clown with white face in an old hat and striped sweater called Bip. This image was born in 1947 and remained unchanged for more than 60 years.

Marceau performed on the best stages of the world. He toured a lot and was one of the few actors invited to the Soviet Union in 1957. In 1978, Marceau established the International School of Mimodrame of Paris, where mimes from all over the world came to study. In 1996, he started a foundation to support pantomime in the United States. The French Government conferred upon Marceau its highest honor, making him an Officier de la Légion d’Honneur. In 1998, President Jacques Chirac named Marceau a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit.

At the age of 84, Marcel Marceau died at his home in Cahors, France, on Sept. 22, 2007. His burial ceremony was accompanied by Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, and the sarabanda dance of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5.

House of Actor
7 Yaroslaviv Val
Oct. 23, 7 p.m.Tickets Hr 40 to Hr 90.

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

photo celticwander.wordpress.com

Asia-Cinema festival

The 5th Asia-Cinema festival prepared the best program of its history. It will showcase six new movies from prominent Asian directors and include all the main genres of Asian cinema – action, drama, horror and even western.

From Oct. 9, you can see the comedy “Milyang” (“Secret Sunshine”) by South Korean director Chang-dong Lee. The film received a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival for best actress. The comedy “Kantoku, Banza!” (“Glory to the Filmmaker”) by one of the most famous Japanese directors, Takeshi Kitano, will be shown from Oct. 12. In the film Takeshi Kitano, as in some of his previous works, again plays a version of himself. This time he’s a struggling director who alternates a number of different genres in an effort to complete his latest project.

The Japanese Western “Sukiyaki Western Django” by Takashi Miike, will start on Oct. 15. It’s an epic tale of blood, lust and greed, featuring a surprise appearance by Quentin Tarantino.

Traditionally the festival will be opened by a film from legendary South Korean director Ki-duk Kim. This time it will be his new drama “Soom” (“Breath”), a love story involving a convicted prisoner who slowly falls for a woman who decorates his prison cell, starring famous actor Chen Chang. Last year, the movie was nominated for a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. Ki-duk Kim’s feature is an Eastern puzzle that cannot be solved and cannot be missed at the same time.

“Kantoku, Banza!” is shown in Japanese language with Russian subtitles. “Milyang” and “Soom” are in Korean, “Sukiyaki Western Django” – in English, and all three will be translated to Ukrainian by an interpreter in the cinema hall.

UKRAINA (5 Horodetskoho, 279-6750, 279-8232). Through Oct. 22. Tickets Hr 35
More information at http://www.kino-ukraina.com.ua

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

Deep Purple

British rock band Deep Purple has already played in Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa this month, and its members have now reached Kyiv. After that, they will travel to Cherkasy and continue their world tour with eight concerts in Russia. Such active touring activity is not unusual for the band. Deep Purple is known as one of the toughest touring bands in the world. They have done 26 tours during their career. The latest one is dedicated to band’s 40th anniversary. The band was formed in 1968, and was first called Roundabout. The same year, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore suggested the name Deep Purple, which was his grandmother’s favorite song.

Іince that time the band has gone through many lineup changes and an eight-year hiatus. The band’s second lineup, featuring Ian Gillan on vocals, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, keyboardist Jon Lord, bass guitarist Roger Glover and Ian Paice on drums, is considered classical. With this lineup, the band gained world recognition, commercial success and released three albums “In Rock,” “Fireball” and “Machine Head,” all of which became hard rock classics. This lineup was active through 1969-1973 and was revived in 1984-1989 and again in 1993. The current lineup, including guitarist Steve Morse instead of Ritchie Blackmore, has been much more stable, though Lord’s retirement in 2002 has left Paice as the only original member.

Deep Purple, along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, are considered to be the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock although some band members refuse to admit belonging to any single genre. They were once listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s loudest band. With worldwide sales of more than 100 million albums, their popularity is undeniable.

PALATS SPORTU (Palats Sportu metro station, 246-7405). Oct. 15, 7 p.m. Tickets Hr 200 to Hr 500.

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

Eros Ramazzotti's concert scheduled for Oct. 15 postponed until Dec. 2

This decision is connected with the unstable political situation in Ukraine. Ramazzotti will give a concert at Ukraina Palace in Kyiv at 19.30 on December 2, 2008, the Producer's Center company reported. All the tickets bought for the October 15 concert will be valid on December 2.

It will be Eros Ramazzotti's first-ever concert in Ukraine. Ramazzotti will present his last double album “e2,” featuring 14 of his best hits, four new songs and 17 old tracks remade with new singers, producers and arrangers such as Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean, Steve Vai, Rhythm Del Mundo, Jon Spencer, Take 6, The Chieftains and John Spencer.

In 25 years of his music career, the prolific Ramazzotti released 11 albums and sold 40 million copies of them. In 1999, German’s Echo Awards named him the best international singer.
The Italian singer has performed with many international mega-stars. He sang “Cose Della Vita” (“Can’t Stop Thinking of You”) with American pop icon Tina Turner, and “Musica E” with Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli. His duets with Cher in “Piu Che Puoi” and “That’s All I Need to Know – Defendere” with Joe Cocker were also extremely popular. He sang “I Belong to You” with American singer Anastacia and “Non Siamo Soli” with Latino pop star Ricky Martin.

What has made Ramazzotti a success is his unique voice that can be described as slightly nasalized yet energetic and even a little aggressive. His songs are catchy yet passionate autobiographic ballads with a soft rock influence. Also, it doesn’t hurt that he is a good-looking chap with a Casanova reputation.

PALATS UKRAINA (103 Chervonoarmiyska, 247-2316, 247-2476). Tickets on balcony Hr 250 to Hr 800, in parterre Hr 650 to Hr 5000.

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

Aquarium International

Boris Grebenshchikov, leader of Russian rock band Aquarium, is coming to show his new project in Kyiv. One of the founding fathers of Russian rock, Grebenshchikov will perform in a company of 10 musicians from the USA, England, Ireland, India and Poland. The new extended band will be called Aquarium International. Musicians play Aquarium’s classical songs and new compositions written for the next album, which they are currently being recorded in the London studio Livingston. They use unusual instruments, such as Irish Uilleann pipe, ancient Polish violin and Indian sitar and Chinese erhu.
Aquarium International first performed in the Royal Albert Hall. Then they played in the Dublin Olympia Theatre in Northern Ireland. After playing in Kyiv, musicians will move on to Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Milan and Vienna.
As a surprise for fans, bass guitarist Alexandr Titov, who is from the band’s first lineup but who hasn’t played with the group for the last 12 years, will join Aquarium International onstage.
The concert in Kyiv will be charitable. All funds collected from the concert will be given to Korostyshevska Boarding School for children with mental disorders in Zhytomyr Oblast.
The history of Aquarium dates back to 1972, when Grebenshchikov and his childhood friend Anatoliy Gunitskiy founded the band together. After a performance at a rock festival in Tbilisi in 1980, Grebenshchikov was kicked out of the Komsomol (an organization for all “decent” Soviet youth) and the Institute of Sociology, where he worked as a researcher. Aquarium was banned officially. Times have changed and, in 2003 Grebenshchikov celebrated his 50th birthday with a big concert in the Kremlin.

NATIONAL OPERA HOUSE (50 Volodymyrska, 279-1169). Oct.14, 8 p.m. Tickets Hr 100 to Hr 5,000

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

BekBekson

Young Georgian musician BekBekson will show what miracles he can make with a common guitar. Though his guitar is not quite so common: it was made by BekBekson’s father – jeweler, designer and artist. It is the only guitar in the world which has a built-in microphone that allows one creating musical samples. BekBekson plays guitar with a fiddlestick and uses many unusual techniques. His instrument sounds like a violin or violin cello, and can even imitate a wild bird or Tibetan monk choir. Speaking of genres, BekBekson experiments with jazz, rock, avant-garde, noise, classics, psychedelic and fusion. So the “Guitar Alchemy” is really a fitting name for his concert program.

BekBekson has been writing and playing music compositions since he was 15. He graduated from Batumi Music Academy with a major in classical guitar. The musician has been playing under the stage name BekBekson since 2005 and does not disclose his real name. He performed at several festivals in Tbilisi and at Ukrainian jazz festivals in Lviv, Donetsk and Koktebel. This concert will be BekBekson’s second gig in Kyiv.He visited the city for the first time last spring playing at Ukrainian Fashion Week.

44 (44B Khreshchatyk, 279-4137). Oct. 10, 10 p.m. Tickets Hr 50.

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

Rhine on the Dnipro

One of the biggest centers of modern art in Eastern Europe, PinchukArtCentre starts its third year of work with an amazing exhibition. It showcases 24 photographs by world-famous German photographer Andreas Gursky and 18 video installations from German patron Julia Stoschek’s collection. The project is dedicated to the Weeks of German Culture in Ukraine.
53-year-old Andreas Gursky is called “the eye of God” due to his special vision of reality. His photo collages created between 1987 and 2008 are mixes of skyscrapers, big office buildings, stock brokers, Formula 1 routes, interiors of galleries and clubs. His static photographs present a conceptual opposition to the mobile images of video art from Julia Stoschek Collection. Stoschek financed exhibitions in Museum of Modern Art and in Center of Modern art in New York. Last year she presented to the public her private collection based on new media – photos, videos and installations. In Kyiv we’ll see works of Bruce Nauman, a representative of 1960s classical video art, and works by modern masters of video art – Christian Jankowski and Robert Boyd.

PinchukArtCentre
1/3-2, Chervonoarmiyska/Baseyna, A Block, 590-0858.
Through Nov. 2.
Tue-Sun, noon till 9 p.m.
Free admission

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"

“French Cinema” photo exhibition

The photo exhibition “French Cinema,” organized by Afisha magazine, is taking place in Shevchenko Park. The open air art show seems well-timed for Indian summer that finally came to Kyiv. Walking through the sunlit alleys of the park, you will be able to admire photographs of French movie stars taken by Carole Bellaiche and Frederic Poletti, photographers of influential French film magazine Cahier du Cinema (Notebooks on Cinema), which was founded in 1951.

Future cult directors Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol used to write reviews on their favorite films for this legendary magazine. Cahier du Cinema re-invented the basic tenets of film criticism and theory. A 1954 article by Truffaut attacked “La Qualite Francaise” (“The French Quality”) and was the manifesto for “la Politique des Auteurs,” in which Andrew Sarris later termed the auteur theory — resulting in the re-evaluation of Hollywood films and directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Robert Aldrich, Nicholas Ray, Fritz Lang, and Anthony Mann. Cahiers du Cinema authors also championed the work of directors Jean Renoir, Roberto Rossellini, Kenji Mizoguchi, Max Ophüls, and Jean Cocteau, by centering their critical evaluations on a film's mise en scène. The magazine also was essential to the creation of the Nouvelle Vague, or New Wave of French cinema, which centered on films directed by Cahiers authors such as Godard and Truffaut.

Stars of French cinema Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Charlotte Rampling, Louis Garrel, Jane Birkin, Jean Rochfort, Asia Argento as well as cult directors Aki Kaurismaki and Philippe Garrel appeared in different times on the pages of Cahier du Cinema. Now we can see their portraits in Kyiv. Among them is a beautiful photograph of actress Fanny Ardant who was the last muse of Francois Truffaut. Ardant appeared in two of his last films “Confidentially Yours” and “The Woman Next Door.” François Truffaut died in 1984, a year after Fanny gave birth to their daughter Joséphine. Fanny Ardant refused to stop filming. She played in 68 films, got Silver Berlin Bear, and Cesar.

SHEVCHENKA PARK

Through Nov. 9

Oksana Faryna for "Kyiv Post"