Construction And Representation of Cultural Trauma in Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema

Abstract

Ukrainian history has numerously been marked by large-scale historical events that caused cultural trauma and thus influenced and transformed Ukrainian art and cinema. Studying contemporary Ukrainian cinema within the context of cultural trauma is crucial for understanding the impact of historical and socio-cultural events on the country’s contemporary cinema. On the one hand, such an approach helps expand knowledge of traumatic events’ cultural manifestations and their impact on national memory and identity. On the other hand, the cinema itself could be viewed as a commemorative practice to overcome cultural trauma.

This article explores selected films of contemporary Ukrainian cinema through the lens of cultural trauma and how it could be represented through the audio-visual language of the cinema. The concepts of cultural and psychological trauma through sociological and psychological theories are used to read and decode the films (feature live-action films and documentaries). The article also features a brief overview of the history of Ukrainian cinema through the lens of cultural trauma theory, which allows to trace which particular images and film language have been transferred to contemporary Ukrainian cinema due to cultural trauma.