Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, opponent of Vladimir Putin, presented his film “Rhino” at the Les Arcs European Film Festival. A shocking feature film about Ukraine plagued by violence in the 90s, shot after years of imprisonment.
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Already selected in many festivals such as the Venice Mostra, Rhino was screened during the 13th edition of the Festival des Arcs which takes place from December 11 to 18. Supported by the jury chaired this year by Michel Hazanavicius, the film by Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov is previewed in the “Playtime” selection. This section brings together the best of auteur cinema and the European general public.
With Rhino, director and activist Oleh Sentsov addresses the endemic violence of the Ukrainian underworld through a character in reconstruction.
For me it’s a huge victory because it’s a film that I wrote ten years ago. Obviously to have managed to release it today, it’s huge.
Oleh Stentsov, director
Rhino tells the story of a young gangster in a small Ukrainian town. Like the destructive spiral in which Ukraine found itself after the collapse of the communist bloc. This punchy film makes it possible to account for a historical reality, that of a country plagued by violence in the 90s.
After Gamer, his highly acclaimed first feature film in 2011, Oleg Sentsov obtained funding for his future second film, Rhino, delayed because of his involvement in the Euromaïden protest movement. Filming was due to start in the summer of 2014. It was therefore long before his arrest in Russia in 2014 for opposing the annexation of Crimea by Russian forces that Oleg Sentsov wrote it.
The director was sentenced to 20 years in prison for terrorist acts. During his detention in 2019, he went on a hunger strike. Its cause then becomes known worldwide. Many foreign intellectuals demand the release of the political prisoner. It was in 2019 that the activist was released from the prison in Siberia, during a long-negotiated prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia.
Honored with the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2018 for his exceptional contribution to human rights, the city of Paris also named him honorary citizen the following year. A distinction that honors people committed to fundamental freedoms around the world.