Pig Remains Pig (Свині завжди свині).
D: Chanan Šmajin
S: Erast Garin, Ivan Tverdochlib, Marija Maksakova a.o.
UkrSSR 1931, 58′
Ukrainian with English subtitles
Video introduction: Stanislav Bytiutskyi (Dovzhenko Centre)

Pre-film: What’s the World Coming To?
D: Richard Wallace, F. Richard Jones
S: Clyde Cook, Katherine Grant, James Finlayson a.o.
US 1926, 22′
English Intertitles

This Ukrainian comedy examines the quickest way to determine the transportation fare for guinea pigs in a socialist system, while at the same time the provincial station of Pupki and its sleepy stationmaster must cope with ever-multiplying guinea pigs. Not only socialism and bureaucracy are taken for a ride, but also the relaxed atmosphere in Pupki in contrast to the guinea pig chaos inviting hearty laughter.

Copyright: Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre

The copy of the film, which was thought to be lost, was discovered in the Federal Archives in 2015, returned to the Ukrainian film archive Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre and digitized there. We are very pleased to be able to show the film with an introduction from the Dovzhenko Centre, whose work is currently under severe threat not only due to the war but also due to government restrictions.

We are also especially grateful to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival for making What’s the World Coming To? available, which foreshadows the year 2026 and exaggeratedly and ironically turns around the gender stereotypes that prevailed in 1926.

Please reserve your tickets through the Filmmuseum Potsdam’s schedule.

Program design: Dr. Johanne Hoppe

The retro film magazine 35 Millimeter published an interview by Dr. Johanne Hoppe with the Kiev film scholar Stanislav Bytiutskyi about his work at the Dovzhenko Centre. In it he reports, among other things: “The war has brought additional difficulties. For funding. For the security of our collection. With the loss of people who are now at war. At the same time, interest in Ukrainian cinema has soared after February 24, 2022. In Ukraine and also internationally” (35 Millimeter #50, June 2023 in German).

With the kind support of ZeM, SFSFF, ODNC