Formally there are eight Oscar-winning Ukrainians
In the 96-year history of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, there could have been nine Ukrainians honored, but for Kvitka Cisyk’s personal conflict with Joseph Brooks, the director of the film You Light Up My Life. The song sung by Kvitka won an Oscar in 1978, but the award was given to another singer, and Cisyk was even cut out of the credits.
Therefore, formally there are eight Oscar-winning Ukrainians together with the authors of the deeply penetrating documentary 20 Days in Mariupol. Half of them are my fellow countrymen from Kharkiv: Barbara Karinska, Eugene Mamut, Mstyslav Chernov and Vasylisa Stepanenko.
Each of the eight deserves our attention to be briefly reminded of their contribution to the great art of motion pictures.
Barbara Karinska, clothes designer. She was born and lived in Kharkiv for 40 years. In the 1920s she moved to Paris, where she worked on costumes for the ballet with Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall. Later she moved to the USA and quickly conquered Hollywood. Marlene Dietrich, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman and other great actresses and actors wore clothes designed by Karinska. She received the Academy Award in 1949 for the costumes to the Joan of Arc movie.
Eugene Mamut. Graduate of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute. He immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s. He received Special Technical Oscar (Scientific and Technical Award) in 1987 for the development of special effects to the movie Predator with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Jack Palance. He won an Oscar in 1992 for his supporting comedy role in the City Slickers movie, although he is best known as an actor in westerns. The fact that he is Ukrainian and his name is actually Volodymuyr Palahniuk, was mentioned by him directly during the receipt of the Oscar statuette.
Anatoliy Kokush. In 2006 he was awarded two technical Oscars –- for the development of gyro-stabilized camera crane U-Crane and for the Cascade series of motion picture cranes. These words don’t mean much to the moviegoers. At the same time the names of the movies will tell a lot: for example, the flying scene of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on the bow of Titanic was filmed with the help of a Kokush’s crane.
Elena Andreicheva. Born in Kyiv, in 1995 she went to study and work in London. In 2020 she won an Oscar for her short documentary film Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) filmed in Afghanistan.
And, of course, Mstyslav Chernov, Vasylisa Stepanenko and Yevhen Malolietka. Mstyslav Chernov and Vasylisa Stepanenko were born in Kharkiv, while Yevhen Malolietka comes from temporarily occupied Berdiansk.
