Famous American director Michael Mann says he has Ukrainian roots and supports Ukraine

Michael Mann is a well-known American director who has brought to the world such cult films as Heat with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, Ali, Miami Vice, The Last of the Mohicans, and, in December of this year, Ferrari. As it turned out, Mann has Ukrainian roots and is very proud of it. His Jewish ancestors emigrated from what is now Ukraine in the first half of the 20th century.

The director is interested in the history of his own family, and therefore speaks enthusiastically about its past. In an interview with the Ukrainian media outlet The Village, he spoke about his connection to Ukraine and how he is rooting for our people in the terrorist war with Russia.

According to the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian edition, Yaroslav Druziuk, he decided to ask the iconic director if he was familiar with Ukrainian cinema, in particular the works of the great Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Serhii Parajanov, or Kira Muratova. After these words, the interviewer said, Michael Mann became noticeably more excited.

Although the director did not talk about Ukrainian cinema, he said, "First of all, I'm following the struggle that Ukraine is going through. Take care of yourself, good luck to you. By the way, I recently watched Sean Penn's documentary Superpower about the first stage of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and it's an extraordinary film."

The BAFTA and Emmy award winner and four-time Oscar nominee noted that his entire family is from the town of Ovruch, Zhytomyr region.

"I do have something that connects me to Ukraine. My whole family comes from the town of Ovruch. When my grandfather left Ukraine and went to the United States, his two sisters emigrated to Argentina with the grandparents of Héctor Babenko (Argentine-Brazilian director of Ukrainian descent - ed.) I didn't know about this until I met him, and he told me this story... So, there is indeed something in Ukraine that promotes the birth of directors," Mann said.

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