An Interview with Ivan Tymchenko, the director of "Oxygen Station", interviewer Vitalii Ditiashov.
Tymchenko started his career as a political and sport photojournalist, and advertising photographer. In 2009 he switched to filmmaking and worked as a DOP and later as a director. “Oxygen Station” is his second feature film.
A poetic drama based on a true story, "Oxygen Station" explores the life of Mustafa Jemilev, a Soviet dissident. Due to his political beliefs and activism, he was exiled far to Siberia from his homeland in Ukraine, where he eked out a living working in an oxygen station. Despite constant surveillance and censorship, he never forgot his homeland and its people. His inspiring story serves as a reminder to the audience that the inhumane Soviet regime has not disappeared, and Ukrainians still grapple with today.
It took the filmmakers eight years from idea to premiere. Tymchenko says that the people who believed in the idea gathered around it and started to search for possibilities on how to realize it. When the situation got very bad due to the war and it seemed that the film would not be finished, co-producers from Europe came to help.
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https://poff.ee/en/film/oxygen-station/
