“V. SILVESTROV”, 240 min.

Director – Sergey Bukovsky,

Producer – Gennadii Kofman

Script – Sergey Bukovsky, Victoria Bondar

Camera – Sergiy Mykhalchuk, Roman Elenskyi

Sound – Ihor Barba, Borys Peter

The documentary “V. Silvestrov” dedicated to this brilliant Ukrainian composer, is far from a traditional biopic about a prominent person. It is an observation, a confession, and, most of all, a story of great talent set against the backdrop of uncertain times.
Of course, film authors pay tribute to the composer’s creative techniques: avant-garde of the 1960s forced into the underground at the times of socialist realism, postmodernism (his main obsession during the 1970s), metaphorical
music, and contemporary pieces that charm audiences around the world. But it is also a personal story of a genius mind with its oddity, curiosity, and emotional depth.

Valentyn Silvestrov – Ukrainian composer, People’s Artist of Ukraine, laureate of Taras
Shevchenko National Award. Graduated from Kyiv State Conservatory
(course of Borys Liatoshynskiy).
In the 1960s, Valentyn Silvestrov was a member of the
Kyiv Avantgarde group, which began a new era of Ukrainian music history. He was forced out of the Composer’s Union because of “derogation from conventions of socialistic realism,” which was the official cultural method in the Soviet Union. The postmodernism of the 1970s was Silvestrov’s true passion. He called his style “the meta music.”
Now he works in the field of spiritual music: “silent songs”, bagatelles
(“musical poems without words”), postludes, “psalms” with the lyrics of
Taras Shevchenko.
In October of 2019, the premiere of Valentyn Silvestrov’s
the Ninth Symphony took place in Kyiv

“If you ask me to name a contemporary compose I would say Silvestrov the first and foremost. He is definitely the most interesting composer of our time even if the public will not appreciate him until later”

Arvo Pärt,
Composer

“Lovely film. Lovely man. Made with care and ease”

Tue Steen Müller,
Director

The film is a delicate introduction to the world of Silvestrov both as a composer and as a philosopher

Olha Siedakova,
Writer