Pamfir

Pamfir (2022)

Памфір

When reformed ex-smuggler Pamfir returns home to his village on the Ukrainian border after working abroad for several years, he’s determined to earn an honest living and set a good example for his beloved teenage son Nazar. But in a town where corruption runs deep and crime and religion are inextricably linked, his plan is quickly thwarted when Nazar sets fire to the local church in a misguided effort to keep him at home. To pay for the damage, Pamfir must take on one last job for a crime syndicate operating a risky smuggling venture in a place where all the rules have changed.

Date of release
2022-11-02
TMDB
7.3 / 10 (85)
Runtime
1h 40m
Genres
Drama, Crime
Director
Dmytro Sukholytkyi-Sobchuk

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Pamfir is a 2022 Ukrainian fictional feature film directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, which world premiered on May 22, 2022, at the 75th Festival de Cannes, in the selection of the 54th Directors' Fortnight. In Ukrainian distribution since March 23, 2023. From June 22 that year, the film was released on Netflix. The film received the main prize of the Cairo International Film Festival, the Grand Prix of the Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist, took part in many international film festivals. Pamfir was named among the best films of 2023 by The Guardian.

Production

The first treatment of the future film was written in 2016, when the director took part in the Torino Film Lab workshop with a short film. Following that, the director made his short fiction debut with Weightlifter.

From May 2018, producer Oleksandra Kostina joined the project. At first, the work was done jointly, but eventually the functions were divided into creative and production functions. The next step in the script work went during the Cinéfondation Residence of the Cannes Film Festival (France) in 2019. Six writers were provided with opportunities to live and work in Paris and receive various consultations.

In 2019, Pamfir became one of the winners of the 11th competitive selection of the Ukrainian State Film Agency and received financial support from the government. The film also received the support of the Polish Film Institute (PISF), the Swiss Visions Sud Est fund, a European fund supporting experimental cinema, the Hubert Bals Fund, the French national film center – CNC Aide aux cínemas du monde, the Goteborg Film Fund and the Governor of Chern…

Filming took place from October 2020 in the conditions of lockdowns in Bukovyna, where the actors had lived for three months before, for deeper immersion in their roles. The actors mastered the local dialect – wrote down the story of their day in the dialect, kept characters' diaries about their preferences, relationships with other characters, etc.

Filming was preceded by expeditions that drew authentic elements to the production. In particular, the labyrinthine method of drying hay, which was found in the village of Sarata, was recreated by the production designers in the house of Pamfir's parents based on photographs.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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