Documentary about Crimean Tatars Wins International Film Award

The documentary *Imprinted in Memory* (Zapechatlennye v pamyati), directed by Kristina Pashin, has won the international MYTH film award. The awards ceremony took place on September 12 in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.

Eskender Bariiev, Chairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, announced the film's success. According to him, the festival received 983 submissions from various countries this year, with 85 films from 42 nations included in the competition program.

*Imprinted in Memory* tells the stories of Crimean Tatars who found themselves under Russian occupation and faced repression and war. The film features human rights activists Eskender and Zarema Bariiev, Nariman Dzhelyal (who was released from Russian captivity), Leyla Ibragimova (director of the Melitopol Local History Museum), and serviceman Seyran Kadyrov, who died in battle fighting for Ukraine.

A specific segment of the film is dedicated to 17-year-old Emir Belyalov, who was killed in a missile strike on his family's home in the village of Semykhatka, in the Henichesk district.

The film also addresses themes such as forced displacement from Crimea, the protection of the peninsula's indigenous people's rights, the release of political prisoners, and the international campaign for the de-occupation of the region.

"We are endlessly grateful to Kristina; thanks to her incredible efforts, the world can learn more about the history of the Crimean Tatar people's struggle," Bariiev noted.

Filming took place in Ukraine, Turkey, and Poland. The film is set to be screened at the 29th Arpa International Film Festival in Los Angeles, running from September 24 to 27. Additionally, the picture was a finalist at the inaugural International Crimean Film Festival in Turkey. This year, the MYTH festival dedicated its program to themes of war, freedom, human dignity, social justice, and countering Russian propaganda.

In early September, Odesa also hosted the premiere of the documentary performance piece *Koloniya | degil* (Not a Colony) by the Lyutyi Theater. The production focuses on Crimea, decolonization, and the future of the peninsula's indigenous people.

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