''Ukraine Is Not a Brothel'' is a 2013 Australian documentary film directed by

Kitty Green Kitty Green is an Australian film director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. The majority of her projects have been documentaries, while only one has been a narrative driven story. Green produced, directed, wrote, and edited the 2019 film '' ...

. The film debuted at the

70th Venice International Film Festival The 70th annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2013. American film director William Friedkin was presented with a lifetime achievement award. Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucc ...

, although it was not part of the competition. The documentary concerns the FEMEN (Фемен) movement, a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

protest group originating from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Content

The film is a documentary on the activities of FEMEN, a Ukrainian feminist movement known for

topless Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness. Expose ...

protests. The filmmaker Kitty Green followed the activists for over a year, in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It documents the protests and the resulting harassments and arrests over a span of fourteen months. The film showcases the four activists who form the core of the film. The documentary shows Viktor Sviatsky as a driving force of the group FEMEN. He is the manipulator of all the protests and, in essence, commander of the females. The activists of FEMEN participated in the promotion of the documentary. They claimed that the situation in the film, i.e. under the leadership of Viktor Sviatsky, is actually part of the past, since he was ejected from the movement in 2012.

Cast

* Viktor Sviatsky The four principal women of FEMEN (Фемен): * Inna Shevchenko (Inna Ševčenko) (Інна Шевченко) * Alexandra Shevchenko (Aleksandra Shevchenko) (Sasha Shevchenko) (Oleksandra Ševčenko) * Anna Hutsol (Hanna Hucol) (Ганна Гуцол) * Oksana Shachko (Oksana Šačko)

Release

The film was screened out of competition at the

of Venice. At the festival photocall the activists appeared topless, as is usual for their protests

Critical reception

Glenn Dunks and Christopher Schobert of ''The Playlist'' on

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

gave the film positive reviews.

Accolades

On 9 September 2014, ''Ukraine is Not a Brothel'' won for the Best Feature Length Documentary by

Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is a professional organisation of film and television practitioners in Australia. The Academy's aim is "to identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements i ...

, awarded at the

4th AACTA Awards The 4th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (generally known as AACTA Awards) are a series of awards which includes the 4th AACTA Awards Luncheon, the 4th AACTA Awards ceremony and the 4th AACTA International Awards. The former ...

at The Star Event Centre,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in late January 2015

References

External links

* * * {{cite web , url =https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/ukraine-is-not-a-brothel-review-venice-1200608905/ , title = Venice Film Review: 'Ukraine Is Not a Brothel' , last1 =Felperin , first1 =Leslie , date =12 September 2013 , publisher =Variety Media, LLC 2013 films 2013 documentary films Australian documentary films Documentary films about feminism Documentary films about Ukraine Femen Feminism in Ukraine