Yarema Malashchuk & Roman Khimei: Dedicated to the Youth of the World II

Cxema is Ukraine’s biggest techno rave, organised at Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kyiv. Between exaltation and alienation, the camera moves through the dancing crowd, reporting on the intimate experience of each participant. For the young people moving to the rhythm of Stanislav Tolkachev’s music, this collective ritual of abstraction is an opportunity to escape the difficulties of everyday life. However, the romantic dimension is cancelled out by the return to the city in the morning, where the young protagonists don’t seem prepared to face external reality.

Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk have been collaborating on the border between the visual arts and cinema since 2013. Through their films and video installations, they explore the image of the crowd as a distinct character in history and culture, which they use to talk about rights and freedoms, communities and hope.

The screening of Dedicated to the Youth of the World II is part of the programme for the first edition of Fogo Fátuo.

Photographs by Dinis Santos