Sentimental Policeman: Ukraine New Cinema Festival–Symposium Screening and Moderated Discussion

Friday, March 27, 2026
Reception: 6:00 PM
Screening: 7:00 PM

Location:
Humanities Quadrangle, L01
320 York Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Free admission. No registration required.

Directed by Kira Muratova
Ukraine | 1992 | 114 min | Russian with English subtitles

Kira Muratova’s Sentimental Policeman is a darkly comic and deeply unsettling meditation on innocence, authority, and the fragility of moral order. Set in a decaying post-Soviet city, the film follows Tolya, a naive and idealistic young policeman whose childlike belief in goodness collides with the absurdities and quiet cruelties of the world around him. As Tolya attempts to carry out his duties with sincerity and compassion, the film gradually reveals the tragic consequences of a sensibility that cannot survive within structures shaped by indifference and bureaucratic logic.

Blending deadpan humor with moments of disquieting tenderness, Muratova crafts a distinctive cinematic language that resists conventional narrative closure. Known for her unconventional editing, elliptical storytelling, and attention to the rhythms of everyday speech, Muratova remains one of the most singular voices in late Soviet and post-Soviet cinema. Sentimental Policeman stands as one of her most enigmatic works, offering a quietly devastating reflection on idealism in a world that cannot accommodate it.

This screening is part of the Ukraine New Cinema Festival–Symposium at Yale, a culminating event of the Ukraine New Cinema series, which over the past year has presented major works of contemporary Ukrainian cinema including Klondike (dir. Maryna Er Gorbach), This Rain Will Never Stop (dir. Alina Gorlova), The Tribe (dir. Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi), and Stop-Zemlia (dir. Kateryna Gornostai). The festival expands the series through screenings, scholarly conversations, and discussions with filmmakers.

Co-sponsored by:
Yale Ukrainian Program · Yale Ukraine House · Slavic Department · The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund · Razom for Ukraine · Yale MacMillan Center Program in Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies · European Studies Council · Film & Media Studies · Yale Film Society · Penn State University