‘Rhino - Oleg Sentsov’

Given the current situation in Ukraine, the directors are currently unable to travel, so there will be no discussion after the film. The projections of the films on Saturday and Sunday will continue as planned.

​​​​​​​Starting out as a petty thief, a young man nicknamed “Rhino” quickly works his way up the criminal hierarchy in 1990s Ukraine. Rhino has only known power and cruelty, but with nothing left to lose, could he finally find a chance at redemption?

Oleg Sentsov is a director, writer, former political prisoner and social activist. His debut film Gamer premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2011, but in May 2014, after Russia's annexation of Crimea, Sentsov was arrested by the FSB, charged with planning terrorist attacks. He was brought to Moscow. Despite a complete lack of evidence, he was unlawfully sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, giving rise to a global campaign for his release. While in prison, Sentsov wrote a collection of short stories and the novel, Buy This Book - It's Funny. In 2018, he received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, before being finally released on 7 September 2019, as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Russia and Ukraine.