Ukrainian children who had to flee to Berlin over the last few months are eagerly awaiting this film. And probably the adults too. The animated film “Mavka – Guardian of the Forest” broke all box office records in Ukraine. It is now running in some Berlin cinemas until May 10th. First in Ukrainian with German subtitles. Before it comes to the cinemas in German from autumn.
The film (English title “Mavka – Forest Song”) tells the story of the forest girl Mavka and unravels between two worlds: the kingdom of the forest and the world of humans. The forest dwellers must defend their idyllic kingdom against foreign invaders. Mavka falls in love with a talented musician named Lukash and faces a difficult choice: love or her duty as a forest warden. Of course, love helps to overcome all evil.
The magical power of love
The film has been running nationwide in Ukraine since March. Already on the first weekend it grossed 24.9 million hryvnia (equivalent to around 612,000 euros) and was seen by almost 190,000 viewers. More than a million tickets have now been sold. This makes the fairy tale about the girl from the forest the most successful animation project in the history of Ukrainian cinema. It even surpasses blockbusters like “Iceheart 2” or “Grinch”.
What makes this movie popular? Among the performers speaking the main characters are voices of prominent Ukrainian musicians. Trendsetter Artem Pivovarov, winner of numerous international music awards, speaks the voice of Lukash, the great love of the enchanting Mavka. He and the young singer Kristina Solovy, who gave a concert in Berlin in February this year, sing the main song “The Language of the Wind”. The music is based on well-known Ukrainian folk songs.
The film refers to the mythological character Mavka, “the soul of the forest”, which the Ukrainian dramatist Lesya Ukrainka (1871-1913) used in the early 20th century in the famous drama “The Forest Song”. Poetry and romance are the best prerequisites for a blockbuster and the conflict between man and nature is more relevant than ever. In contrast to the original, however, the film has a happy ending, which is probably why children and families like it so much.
The idea for the film came from Serhey Sozanovsky, the owner of the major film company Film.ua and his wife, the producer Iryna Kostyuk. The 90-minute film was worked on for eight years. It is the first Ukrainian animated film to be shown in Ukrainian cinemas since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression. The film is now in cinemas in France, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Italy and will soon be released in 70 countries.
