White Horse | |
---|---|
Directed by | Maryann DeLeo Christophe Bisson |
Written by | Maryann DeLeo Christophe Bisson |
Starring | Maxym Surkov |
Edited by | Flavia Fontes Jeremy Stulberg |
Distributed by | Downtown TV Documentaries HBO |
Release date |
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Running time | 18 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | Russian English |
White Horse is a short documentary by filmmakers Maryann DeLeo and Christophe Bisson that features a man (Maxym Surkov) returning to his Ukraine home for the first time in twenty years. Evacuated from the city of Pripyat, Ukraine in 1986 due to the Chernobyl disaster, he has not returned since then. DeLeo is the same filmmaker of the 2004 Academy Award-winning short film Chernobyl Heart . [1]
The beginning of the film starts with DeLeo, Bisson and Surkov driving through Kyiv. This is introduced as the beginning of their journey to Pripyat, near the ground zero of Chernobyl. Once they reach the outpost outside the exclusion zone, we see that the area surrounding Pripyat is very deserted and dark. Once in the city, we see Surkov's old home, which he explains has been robbed of almost all its belongings due to looters. Yet there are still some mementos in the old apartment, including the wallpaper he and his mother put up, the training bars his father bought for him, an old rubber ball he claims was his favorite and a white horse poster plastered on the wall of his old bedroom. The pain he feels is evident. When he sees an old calendar on a door, he rips a large portion off, claiming "the year ended on April 26th". Outside the door of the apartment, he remarks how he wishes he could stay forever. He throws his old ball through the door and walks out of the apartment complex. The film ends with Surkov snapping some twigs in an old courtyard and then an image of the car they traveled in leaving the exclusion zone. [2]
Film-makers attempted to contact Maxym Surkov, the featured interviewee, when the film debuted. They were informed that he had died from a heart attack in February 2008, shortly after the completion of the film. He is survived by his wife and one daughter. [3]
In 2008, the film was nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. [4] It also went to the Viennale Film Festival in Vienna, the Lisbon International Film Festival, and showed in Paris at Cinema Du Reel. It was shown on HBO in the USA in April 2009. There is an interview with the directors on the HBO website. http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whitehorse/index.html
Chernobyl or Chornobyl is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about 90 kilometres (60 mi) north of Kyiv, and 160 kilometres (100 mi) southwest of the Belarusian city of Gomel. Before its evacuation, the city had about 14,000 residents. While living anywhere within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is technically illegal today, authorities tolerate those who choose to live within some of the less irradiated areas, and around 1,000 people live in Chernobyl today.
The Pripyat or Prypiat is a river in Eastern Europe. The river, which is approximately 761 km (473 mi) long, flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine again, draining into the Dnieper.
Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth atomgrad to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which is located in the adjacent ghost city of Chernobyl. Pripyat was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, one day after the Chernobyl disaster.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation is an officially designated exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. It is also commonly known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the 30-Kilometre Zone, or simply The Zone.
The Chernobyl disaster is the world's worst nuclear accident to date.
Slavutych is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, purpose-built for the evacuated personnel of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the 1986 disaster that occurred near the city of Pripyat. Geographically located within Chernihiv Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, Slavutych is administratively subordinated to the Kyiv Oblast and is part of Vyshhorod Raion. It is coterminous with Slavutych urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 2021 the city had a population of 24,464.
Chernobyl Heart is a 2003 documentary film by Maryann DeLeo. The film won the Best Documentary Short Subject award at The 76th Academy Awards.
Alexander Yukhymovych Sirota is a Ukrainian photographer, journalist, filmmaker. He writes in Russian and Ukrainian. As a former resident of Pripyat, he is an eyewitness and a victim of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. He has devoted many articles, photographs, and video reports to the city of Pripyat and to the Chernobyl catastrophe. He is the editor-in-chief of the internet project "pripyat.com" and the president of the International Public Organization "Center Pripyat.com". In May 2008, he became the winner of the ІХ-th international competition "Golden George" of films, TV-programs, and internet projects about protective law and law enforcement. In that competition, Alexander won "The Big Tape of George" award for his website devoted to Chernobyl. He is a member of the Union of Journalists of Ukraine since 2008 and a member if International Federation of Journalists.
Christophe Bisson is an international film director. He created, with the American filmmaker Maryann De leo, the documentary White Horse for HBO Studios and the Discovery Channel. He is a well-known artist based in Caen, France.
Chernobyl Diaries is a 2012 American disaster horror film co-written and produced by Oren Peli and directed by Brad Parker, in his directorial debut. The film stars Jonathan Sadowski, Jesse McCartney, Devin Kelley, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Nathan Phillips, and Dimitri Diatchenko, and was shot on locations in Pripyat, Ukraine, as well as Hungary, and Serbia.
Nikolaus Geyrhalter is an Austrian filmmaker. He has directed, produced, written, and worked as cinematographer for numerous documentaries. He has won awards for Das Jahr nach Dayton (1997), Pripyat (1999), Elsewhere (2001), and Our Daily Bread (2005).
Volodymyr Pavlovych Pravyk was a Soviet firefighter notable for his role in directing initial efforts to extinguish fires following the Chernobyl Disaster. Following the event, he was hospitalized with acute radiation syndrome and died sixteen days later. He was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin by the Soviet Union, and later the Ukrainian Star For Courage in recognition of his efforts.
Chernobyl: Zone of Exclusion is a Russian mystery, thriller, drama TV series that focuses on five friends going to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone to return stolen money. There they come across the dangers and mysteries of the Zone. This is the first feature film to be partly filmed in Pripyat.
The Chernihiv–Ovruch railway is a partially electrified and partially operational single track railway line that stretches between the town of Ovruch and the city of Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, passing through southern Belarus and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The line is owned by Ukrzaliznytsia alone, with railway stations located in Belarus being leased from the government of Belarus. A portion of the line between railway stations Vilcha and Semykhody has not been in service since the Chernobyl disaster, on 26 April 1986.
The Azure Swimming Pool is one of the indoor swimming pools in the abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine, which was affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Chernobyl is a 2019 historical drama television miniseries that revolves around the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and the cleanup efforts that followed. The series was created and written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck. It features an ensemble cast led by Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, and Paul Ritter. The series was produced by HBO in the United States and Sky UK in the United Kingdom.
"1:23:45" is the series premiere of the historical drama television miniseries Chernobyl, which details the nuclear disaster that occurred on April 26, 1986, and the consequences that everyone involved faced. The episode was directed by Johan Renck and written by the series creator Craig Mazin, and it was aired on HBO in the United States on May 6, 2019, while in the United Kingdom it was aired on Sky UK on May 7, 2019. The episode details the explosion of the reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the reactions of the citizens of Pripyat, particularly the plant workers and firefighters. Deputy Chief Engineer Anatoly Dyatlov and the Pripyat Executive Committee dismiss the severity of the explosion, despite the core's exposure endangering the lives of its citizens.
Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko was a Soviet firefighter who was among the first responders to the Chernobyl disaster. He worked as an electrician before being conscripted into the Soviet Armed Forces in 1980, where he completed his two years of service as a military firefighter. Afterwards, he took up employment as a paramilitary firefighter with Fire Brigade No. 6, which was based out of Pripyat. On 26 April 1986, Ignatenko's fire brigade was involved in mitigating the immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster; fighting the fires that broke out following the initial explosion of Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. While on site, Ignatenko received a high dose of radiation, leading to his death at a radiological hospital in Moscow eighteen days later.
The 2020 Chernobyl Exclusion Zone wildfires were a series of wildfires that began burning inside Ukraine's Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in April 2020. The fires were largely extinguished within two weeks. At least one suspect was arrested for alleged arson.