New City of Friends

Directed by Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk

The documentary short depicts modern Kolomyia, where the cult of Austria-Hungary coexists with the post-Soviet reality: the developer hires a team of builders who, with thrift, brick by brick, dismantle old and uninhabitable real estate. Meanwhile, the artists invite fifteen-year-old Maksym to draw a walking route in Kolomyia: through the guide’s narration, the map of the city is transformed into a multi-layered historical palimpsest, where Soviet names are mixed with modern urban folklore and traditional Western Ukrainian piety, and “dog paths” are manifested by official intonation.