Homeland

Review of film: "Visually striking, but narratively undernourished, the father-and-son-bonding drama “Homeward” unfolds against the backdrop of a fraught road trip from Kyiv to Russia-annexed Crimea and marks a flawed debut from young Ukrainian helmer-writer Nariman Aliev, a Crimean Tatar. Indeed, the plight of Crimean Tatars (both historically and currently) forms an important element of the plot. While the subtle connotations surrounding which of the film’s different languages are spoken in various situations may not be understood by all viewers, the mixed feelings of love and resentment between father and son — and their pride in their Tatar heritage and homeland — come through loud and clear.

As the film opens, Kyiv college student Alim (the helmer’s cousin Remzi Bilyalov, an affecting non-pro and also the star of his 2016 short “Without You”) and his father Mustafa (Akhtem Seitablayev), newly arrived from Crimea, are paying a visit to one of the capital’s morgues to claim the shrapnel-pocked body of Alim’s older brother Nazim (Anatoliy Marempolskiy), one of many Ukrainian soldiers killed in the conflict with Russia."

Register below to receive link to film that can be viewed anytime on April 6, 2021.

Registration Link: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwrf-qtqjIqH9WdlzEXaqUax65UUDGcsXQL

Discussions to follow Crimea: Embattled Homeland, Suspended Lives April 8, 2021, 1 PM, https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMpdO6tqzwsE9HL1yV2EjSV3ghI1pguIf3U

Activism,Civil Society, and theMarginalized: A Human RightsPanel on Crimea Today April 10, 2021, 1 PM.
https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMvduurpzkvE9eKwVXD9qS_5Yf7sNGmi7Og