The Forest Reimagined: Iurii Illienko’s Lisova Pisnia and Ukrainian Ecocinema

• In Event: Left Perspectives on Aesthetics across Media I: Eco-Poetic-Cinema from Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Yugoslavia

Abstract

From the writing of the screenplay in 1969 to its realization in 1980, Lisova Pisnia. Mavka (The Forest Song. Mavka) took shape amid shifting artistic and environmental concerns in Soviet Ukraine. Directed by Iurii Illienko and based on Lesia Ukrainka’s celebrated play, the film reinterprets and reworks the text’s key ecological themes. While the original play presents the human and non-human worlds as interconnected and ultimately capable of coexistence, I argue that Illienko’s adaptation intensifies their opposition and critiques an anthropocentric worldview. I analyze this shift against the backdrop of the 1970s Soviet environmental crisis – a period marked by the growth of industrial zones and resource extraction, which threatened to erase the cultural memory of rural communities. Through an examination of Illienko’s camerawork and striking use of color, I illustrate how cinematic technique becomes a means of destabilizing anthropocentric hierarchies, offering a visual language attuned to the equal value of all living beings.

Author

• Ana Cohle, Princeton U