Contradictory in creativity and life. Master of poetic cinema. One of the best directors, who left an invaluable legacy to posterity: an original, spectacular, poetically upbeat representing Ukraine and the events taking place in it.
The first camera work
Yuriy Ilyenko (1936-2010) - People's Artist of Ukraine, Academician of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine, screenwriter, cameraman, producer. “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” (1964) is one of four films that Yuri Gerasimovich made as a cameraman.
It was from this picture, which received many international awards and was included in the top ten masterpieces of world cinema, that Ukraine became recognizable all over the world. While working on Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Yuri Ilyenko plunged headlong into the Hutsul flavor with its infinite deep beauty and enchanting overflows. Communicating with such a gigantic spirit as
Ivan Mikolaichuk (who played the main role), led Yuri Gerasimovich, a man who lived in Moscow for many years and spoke only Russian, to rethink the existing values and strengthen love for his own people.
Yuri Ilyenko: on the way to the viewer
As a director, Yuri Gerasimovich Ilyenko, 13 films were shot; some of them had a very difficult road to the audience. The debut film “The Well for the Thirsty” (“Krinitsya for Spraglich”, 1965), based on the script by Drach Ivan Fedorovich, became his first directorial work. For the story of the extermination, the complete destruction of the Ukrainian village, the communist-minded leadership regarded the picture as anti-Soviet and banned it from showing for more than two decades.
The second directorial work of Yuriy Ilyenko, the allegorical history of Ukraine, was the film “Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupal” (1968). By the will of those in power, he was also removed from the show and lay on the shelf for 20 years.
“White Bird with a Black Mark” (1970) is the third forbidden work to be screened, positioned as the most harmful film ever made in Ukraine. The most unpleasant moment for the leadership of cinematography was the withdrawal as the protagonist not of a communist, but of a UPA warrior, Bandera. The film, which received the Grand Prix of the Moscow International Festival and was awarded a standing ovation by 6,000 spectators, fell into disgrace in its own country for many years. It could be seen in many countries of the world, but not in Ukraine. The projects of Yuri Gerasimovich were almost always forbidden, closed, thundered at the script stage; out of 42, only 7 scripts were filmed.
Debunk Myths
The last directorial work of Yuri Ilyenko was the film “Prayer for the Hetman Mazepu” (2002), which also gained scandalous fame. In this picture, the director decided to debunk myths and tell the truth about the massacre in the capital of the hetman Mazepa - Baturin, when 15 thousand people were killed at the behest of Prince Menshikov. It is not surprising that no skeleton was found during excavations in Baturin: all the inhabitants were crucified, carved, attached to rafts and launched along the waters of the Desna, Seim and Dnieper in order to intimidate the rest. The troops following Mazepa to join the Swedish king Karl were paralyzed by horror and turned away from the hetman, whose role was played by the colorful and powerful Bogdan Stupka. Participated in 2003 in the out-of-competition program of the international film festival in Berlin, this work was received rather coolly, it was forbidden to be rented on the territory of Russia and Ukraine.
Stubborn and uncompromising
Yuri Ilyenko, whose biography is a clear example of unconditional love for Ukraine, was an uncompromising, ideological, categorical, stubborn maximalist. Extremely talented and gifted, in the Gaidamak style, he was not afraid to cross borders and create.
When walking through the studio, I felt the looks of dislike and misunderstanding. Many did not like the films of Yuri Ilyenko, and cooperation with such a person, demanding of himself and others, was shrouded in numerous legends. Like any genius, Yuri Gerasimovich was lonely, which additionally pushed such a strong person to a constant struggle.
Goodbye pigeons
Yuri came to the cinema after studying at the camera department of VGIK, which he graduated in 1960. The camera debut took place in the same year in the film “Farewell, Pigeons” directed by Jacob Segel.
Personal life of a talented person
Yuri Ilyenko was twice married. He spent 18 years with the actress Larisa Kadochnikova, whom he shot in the films Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala. Then fate brought him to the Ukrainian actress Lyudmila Efimenko. The result of a successful union was two beautiful sons, Philip and Andrew. They were the ones who raised their father, who was dying from a debilitating disease, so that he could look at the wide and mighty Dnieper for the last time. June 15, 2010 the great Ukrainian director Yuri Gerasimovich Ilyenko died. This is a big loss for the entire world of cinema.