Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on April 8, 2025 in order to attend this event.
Please join the Ukrainian Film Club at the Harriman Institute for a screening of “A Rising Fury,” followed by a discussion with the film director Lesya Kalynska and producer TJ Collins. The post-screening discussion will be moderated by Yuri Shevchuk.
“A Rising Fury” follows two hopeful Ukrainian idealists from the initially peaceful protest in Kyiv in 2013 to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Pavlo and Svitlana met and fell in love during the Maidan Revolution and were filmed over nearly 10 years with several expeditions to the front lines of the war. When Russia invaded Crimea and Donbas in 2014, Pavlo lost his family home and joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces. To defend his nation, he engages in deadly firefights against former friends and a close military instructor who joined the Russian forces. As Svitlana transports food and medical supplies, both find themselves on the battle lines, protecting their land, democracy, and their relationship. It’s a story of love, revolution, betrayal, and war told mostly through intimate verité material. The film reveals that Russia’s war against Ukraine was prepared by Russia as far back as 2007 and began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas.
In Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles.
Premiere, Festivals, Accolades
“A Rising Fury” premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and earned multiple accolades, including the Supreme Jury Award and Best International Director Award at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. The film has been showcased at major international festivals across four continents and garnered nominations for the Bronze Horse Award at the Stockholm International Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Warsaw International Film Festival, and the Golden Duke Award at the Odesa International Film Festival, among others. Described by Film Threat Magazine as “one of the best films of the year” and rated 10/10 by film critic Bobby LePire, “A Rising Fury” has received widespread critical acclaim. It was long-listed for the 96th Academy Awards and showcased globally.
About the Filmmakers
Lesya Kalynska is an award-winning film director, screenwriter, and producer. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, she earned an MFA in Film Directing and Writing from New York University and holds a Ph.D. in Slavic Literatures and Languages from the Mykhailo Drahomanov National Pedagogical University, Kyiv, Ukraine. The topic of her thesis manuscript was Yuri Andruhovych’s “Prose as a Phenomenon of Postmodernism.” Kalynska has a range of publications, film and TV series releases, screenplays, scholarly works on postmodernism in literature, and journalistic articles. She founded her production company, Pomegranate Studios, in NYC and divides her time between the USA and Ukraine. “A Rising Fury” is her most recent work. Kalynska’s next documentary, currently in progress with the working title “Before the Dawn,” explores the preservation of culture and democracy in Ukraine, focusing on brave Ukrainians fighting for their lives and freedom. The research for this project examines how the war has prompted individuals to reject their Soviet past, rediscover their cultural roots, reclaim their heritage, and build a vision for the future.
TJ Collins is an award-winning filmmaker with over a dozen produced films, including both short and feature-length narratives. His debut feature, “Willets Point,” won the Audience Award at the Long Island International Film Expo and received a theatrical release with positive reviews from The New York Times. A respected industry professional, Mr. Collins has served as a peer judge for the New York Emmy Awards and is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, New York Chapter. He was selected as a Fellow for the 2009 NALIP Producers Academy and Screenwriters Lab. His screenplay “The Driven” (Eli Moran) was chosen for the NALIP Screenwriters Lab, supported by The Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal, FOX, and HBO. Mr. Collins wrote, directed, and produced “The Driven,” starring David Zayas (Dexter, The Expendables), which premiered at the 25th Dances With Films Festival – NYC edition in 2022. Since 2016, Mr. Collins has worked as a producer and co-Writer on “A Rising Fury.”
Trailer
