Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk is a Ukrainian author and f ilmmaker, graduated from the Kyiv National I.K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University. Participant of the Berlinale Talents, Locarno Film Academy, he is the founder of the script platform Terrarium. He was first noticed with his short film Weighlifter, a EFA contender, winner of the Best Short Film Award in Angers. His first feature, Pamfir, was supported by TorinoFilmLab, MIDPOINT and Cannes’ Cinéfondation.
A highlight at Cannes, Pamfir combines the seething tension of the gangster genre with the raw beauty of peasant farm life in a mountain village, western Ukraine. A rough-edged but noble ex-smuggler, Leonid, arrives home from work abroad. After his son commits arson, Leonid returns to his roots to pay his debts, running contraband across the Romanian border. He runs afoul of the corrupt authorities, setting up a showdown during the chaotic festivities of a traditional pagan carnival. The Director, Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, describes Pamfir as a picture that flirts with multiple genres, “…a maze for the viewer to follow, after they think, I’ve seen it all before.”
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