(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Jersey City Theater Center is proud to present two film screenings on Friday, February 24, 2023 at 7:30pm at Jersey City Theater Center, 165 Newark Ave in Jersey City. The Hamlet Syndrome (Poland; running time: 85 min) and The Shadow (Ukraine; running time: 16 min); dedicated to brave Ukrainian people fighting the unjust full-scale war on their territory will offer a Q&A after the screening. This event is co-presented with JCTC, Polish Cultural Institute NYC, Ukrainian Jersey City. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.JCTCenter.org.

“As we mark one year into the brutal invasion of Ukraine, we would like to gather support from the community for refugees and the people of this sovereign nation at Jersey City Theater Center,” said Olga Levina, JCTC Executive Director and Ukrainian immigrant. “This is not just about Ukraine, but about freedom and democracy throughout the world.”

The Hamlet Syndrome /To be or Not To Be in Ukraine, Directed by Elwira Niewiera & Piotr Rosołowski (Poland). The Hamlet Syndrome is a powerful portrait of a vibrant young Ukrainian generation, the first one born after the collapse of the Soviet Union, shaped by the Maidan Revolution of 2013, empowered by political change, and scarred by war.

A few months before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, five young women and men participated in a unique stage production that attempted to relate their war experiences to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. For each of them, the stage is a platform to express their grief and trauma through the famous question, “to be or not to be,” a dilemma that applies to their own lives. The protagonists fight against disappointment, powerlessness, and anger, trying to put their lives back in order while processing their painful past: SLAVIK, who went through the hell of war and captivity as a soldier; KATYA, who longs for her mother’s forgiveness for joining the army, RODION, who escaped from Donbas and is now facing growing homophobia, ROMAN, who is still struggling with the traumatic memories of his experience as a paramedic on the battlefield, and OXANA, who just wants to forget and leave the country. The re-rehearsals for the play are combined with an intense glimpse into the characters’ lives: a powerful portrait of a generation coping with the trauma of war, which now, after Russia invades Ukraine, is their present and future alike.

Produced by Magdalena Kamińska & Agata Szymańska Balapolis, Andreas Banz Matthias Miegel Robert Thalheim Kundschafter Filmproduktion In co-production with CANAL + SUDWESTRUNDFUNK In cooperation with ARTE in association with Chicken&Egg Pictures Cinematography: Piotr Rosołowski; Editing: Agata Cierniak; Music: John Gürtler Jan Miserre; Sound design: Jonathan Schorr; Producer: Magdalena Kamińska Agata Szymańska Andreas Banz Matthias Miegel Robert Thalheim; Production: Balapolis; Kundschafter Filmproduktion; Co-production; CANAL + Eva Witte SUDWESTRUNDFUNK in cooperation with ARTE In association with Chicken&Egg Pictures; Co-financed by Polish Film Institute; With financial support Polish-German Film Fund FFA; Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Creative Europe Media; German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media Crossing Borders Robert Bosch Stiftung; Literarisches Colloquium Berlin; Poland, Germany 2022; Running time: 85 min

The Shadows (Ukraine) by Polly Chesnokova. Facing the imminence of an arranged marriage, a lesbian couple navigates their future in Western Ukraine, guided by the centuries-old Hutsul myths. 

Written and Directed by Polly Chesnokova; Super 8 cinematography;  Running time: 16 minutes

Elwira Niewiera is a Polish/German director and screenwriter based in Berlin. In her artistic work, she focuses primarily on social and cultural transformations in Eastern Europe. Her feature documentary Domino Effect (co-directed with Piotr Rosolowski) was shown worldwide at more than 50 festivals, including IDFA, Hot Docs Toronto, and MoMa Doc Fortnight, and won many awards, among which were the Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig Film Festival and the Golden Horn at the Krakow Film Festival. The film received a nomination for the Polish Film Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary. Her last documentary, The Prince and the Dybbuk (co-directed with Piotr Rosolowski), premiered at the 74th Venice Film Festival and was awarded the Lion for the Best Documentary on Cinema and the Polish Film Academy Award for Best Documentary, among others. She is the winner of the 2020 Young German Cinema Award and the prestigious American Chicken & Egg Award 2021.

Piotr Rosołowski is a Polish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer based in Berlin. He graduated from the Katowice Film School and was awarded an Academy of Media Arts scholarship in Cologne. Co-author of Rabbit a la Berlin – an Academy Award-nominated short documentary film, and co-director of Domino Effect with Elwira Niewiera. Their latest documentary film, The Prince and the Dybbuk won the Lion for Best Documentary on Cinema at the 74th Venice Film Festival. Piotr also works as a director of photography; he shot many awarded feature and short films, among them: On the line dir. Reto Caffi – Academy Award-nominated short fiction, The Wall of Shadows dir. Eliza Kubarska – awarded the annual prize of the Polish Society of Cinematographers.

Polly Chesnokova  (they/them) is a student cinematographer at Dartmouth, based in Hanover, New Hampshire. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Polly takes much inspiration from Eastern European cinematic traditions. As a non-binary artist, Polly strives to explore the themes of gender fluidity and gender-neutral society through their films and other visual mediums. In 2022, Polly started their mentorship program cycle with FutureNow Media Foundation. Their work can be found at: polly.chesnokova.com

Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) arts organization committed to inspiring conversations about important issues of our times through the arts. Co-founded by Executive Producer Olga Levina, an immigrant from Belarus, Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) produces and presents universal yet locally relevant works, emphasizing social justice and human rights.  Since 2006, JCTC has provided a platform for all artistic voices to be heard in Jersey City, with the aim of sparking meaningful cross-cultural dialogue that helps build a greater understanding, mutual respect and better communities in New Jersey.