In October, the nonprofit organization Razom for Ukraine brought back its annual Ukrainian Culture Festival in New York City (USA), which this year has transformed into a large-scale month-long celebration titled “Against the Current.” Over the course of the month, audiences will be treated to events across theater, film, literature, and visual arts.
This was reported by the festival organizers at Razom for Ukraine.
“This October, Razom presents a festival of visual art, performance, literature, and film, ‘Against the Current,’ which reflects Ukraine’s contemporary moment: its beauty, its losses, its voice of resistance. The program explores memory and testimony, nature and environment, identity and hybridity. Each event is more than culture. It is solidarity. It is testimony. It is support for Ukraine,” the organizers stated.
It is emphasized that the festival is meant to become a space for fearless creativity by Ukrainian artists seeking to break patterns and reimagine global culture. The core idea of this year’s celebration is to show how Ukrainian creators “challenge conventions and forge new cultural pathways — boldly, defiantly, uncompromisingly.”
The festivities opened with two powerful premieres: on October 1, the opening of an exhibition by legendary Ukrainian photographer Boris Mikhailov at the Ukrainian Museum; and on October 2, the launch of the photo exhibition “DIA/spora” by Igor Martiniouk at Teatro LATEA, which portrays the Ukrainian community in New York and runs through October 12, featuring daily screenings and a conversation with the author.
Among the month’s events are the screening of “Victor” (October 8, Regal Times Square), directed by Olivier Sarbil, about a deaf war photographer from Kharkiv, as well as short film programs from KISFF and Linoleum (October 14 and 21, Quad Cinema).
From October 10–19, Teatro LATEA will host a contemporary stage reinterpretation of Lesia Ukrainka’s “Cassandra.” Also at LATEA, from October 14–18, visitors can see Anna Seniuk’s exhibition “Patterns of Memory” — a fusion of papercut art and photography exploring the fragmentation of memory. A special reception with the artist will take place on October 15.
On October 25, at the Community Garden, audiences will experience Darya Tsymbalyuk’s project “I Dream of Seeing the Steppe Again,” which restores steppe flora through artistic interaction with the public. On October 26, also at Teatro LATEA, Adriana Petryna, Tsymbalyuk will present her book ''Ecocide in Ukraine: The Environmental Cost of War''.
From October 26–30, Razom invites audiences to Teatro LATEA for the exhibition “What the Water Told Me” by Oleksandra Zborovska — a work born out of the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP using the very water of the river to convey grief, memory, loss, and the elemental power of water.
A literary highlight will be the reading with Maria Reva from her novel “Endling” (October 29, Teatro LATEA), dedicated to themes of extinction, survival, and memory.
“In her novel “Endling“, Reva employs the metaphor of ‘the last species’ to reflect on war, extinction, memory, and survival in the Ukrainian landscape, reminding us that human fate is interwoven with an ecology on the brink of disappearance. Her reading and discussion will bring these threads into sharper focus, asking: what remains when both people and land face erasure?” the festival organizers noted.
Photos: Razom for Ukraine page
Author: Inna Mikhno