Documentary film
Directed by: Volodymyr Lutskiy, Igor Malakhov
Ukraine / Italy 2019
Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles (original version with subtitles)
5 November 2025, 6 p.m.
Kino Cinema & Kurbelkiste, Warendorfer Str. 45, Münster
Free admission
Introduction: Prof. Dr. Irina Wutsdorff (Institute for Slavic Studies)
This documentary film is dedicated to the renowned artist Kazymyr Malevyč and his influence on 20th-century art, with a focus on Malevyč's Ukrainian origins and the influence of Ukrainian culture on his work and personality. A screenplay for a Suprematist film written by the artist in 1930 is shown on screen, along with little-known archive footage of him, photos of his paintings with computer-generated additions, memories of relatives and numerous art historians, gallery owners and architects from Ukraine, Poland, the Netherlands, Belarus and France.
A collaborative event organised by the Münster branch of the German Association for Eastern European Studies (DGO), the Ukrainian Language and Culture Association in Münster e.V. and the Cinema & Kurbelkiste cinema, organised by the Department of Eastern European History (AOEG), University of Münster.
Events in Münster to mark the 3rd anniversary of the large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine
24 February 2025 marks the third anniversary of the large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine. To ensure that this date, and with it the horrors to which the people of Ukraine have now been exposed for three long years, do not get lost in the German election campaign, a broad alliance of various organisations and institutions is marking this day in Münster with a series of events.
In the days leading up to the anniversary, a public rally in front of the historic town hall on 22 February will draw attention to the fact that the war in Ukraine is also a serious challenge for our Western democracies and also remind us that the fighting there has been going on since 2014.
11 a.m. to 1 p.m., title: ‘Defence of democracy in Europe. 11 years of war in Ukraine.’
Afterwards, you can head to the neighbouring public library, where the artists' collective “Vierwärts” will be reading excerpts from Oxana Matiychuk's “Ukrainian Diary” starting at 3 pm. More information can be found further down on this page.
On Sunday, 23 February, a Ukrainian service will be held in the Überwasserkirche at 3 pm, followed by a candlelight procession.
A comprehensive programme has been put together for the anniversary itself, in which the Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Münster is involved twice:
At 16:45, the Schlosstheater will be showing the documentary film ‘In the Rearview’ by Maciek Hamela, which portrays the experiences of a Ukrainian family fleeing the war. An event organised by the City of Münster in cooperation with the associations Ukrainian Language and Culture in Münster, UAre Greven and the Institute for Slavic Studies.
Two events will take place at 8 pm:
Firstly, a church service with an ecumenical prayer for peace in the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche.
Secondly, there will be a reading from Serhij Zhadan's new volume of poetry ‘Chronik des eigenen Atems - 50 und 1 Gedichte’ in the Theatertreff, to which Prof. Dr Irina Wutsdorff will give an introductory lecture. The play will be read by the Münster Theatre ensemble. Serhij Zhadan writes that it was to be yet another volume of poetry about the eastern landscape in winter, the approaching snow, the voices in the air, the vineyards, the city on the horizon filling with noise and light. But on 24 February 2022, with the large-scale invasion, time stopped and the poetry fell silent. Only months later did language return: ‘Time to write new poems / No one cries anymore with the old ones.’