A Story of the Forest: Mavka (1980)

Director
Yuri Ilyenko

Main cast
Yefymenko Lyudmila; Viktor Kremlev; Maya Bulgakova; Ivan Mikolajchuk; Boris Khmelnitsky

Genres
Fantasy

Description
Mavka, a water nymph, loves Lukash, a country youth. Their brief happiness ends when Lukash is forced to marry the shrewish Kilina. The Spirit of the Forest turns Lukash into a wolf as punishment for his infidelity. The strength of Mavka's love breaks the spell, but Kilina curses the nymph, transforming her into a weeping willow. This beautiful and tragic story is based on a play written in 1912 by Lesya Ukrainka, a Ukrainian poet, writer and political, civil and female activist, and includes mythological characters taken from ukrainian folklore.


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