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Since 2008, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies has organised and hosted an annual film festival featuring the best of Ukrainian cinema from its beginnings to the present day. It has also welcomed contemporary filmmakers, film scholars, preservationists and musicians to engage with diverse audiences and offer fresh perspectives into material old and new.
The Fifteenth Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film
The Fifteenth Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film celebrated the defiant independence of Ukrainian culture and marked 100 years since the establishment of VUFKU — the All-Ukrainian Photo-Film Administration — with a series of public events and fundraising screenings in support of humanitarian relief in Ukraine. The headline event was aÌýwalk-through screening of three VUFKU films at °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼'s Museum of Technology.Ìý
The Fourteenth Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film
From 22 November toÌý6 December 2021, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian StudiesÌýand the welcomed audiences to the 2021 Ukrainian Film Festival, Freedom on Screen. Showcasing a dynamic and diverse selection of documentary and feature films, the event marked 30 years of Ukraine’s independent statehood by celebrating a spirit of creative freedom in contemporary Ukrainian cinema.Ìý
The festival programme featured a combination of online and in-person screenings: our digital cinema offered you a curated collection of contemporary Ukrainian films to watch at your leisure anywhere in the UK, while our select in-person screenings and Q&As took place in cinemas and galleries in London and °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼. In °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼, we hosted the UK premiere of the film Ivan's LandÌýat the historic museum Kettle's Yard.ÌýRead up on the life and work of the film'sÌýsubject, the folk painter Ivan Prykhodko, in .
The ThirteenthÌýAnnual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film
As Covid-19 lockdowns took place across the globe, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian StudiesÌýand the Ìýjoined forces toÌýhostÌýan online festival of Ukrainian films, showcasing four gripping contemporary Ukrainian films and holding online Q&As with theÌýdirectors.
The Twelfth Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film
In 2019 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies collaborated with °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Polish Studies, theÌý, and the to screen the 2019 filmÌýMr. Jones,Ìýdirected by Agnieszka Holland and starring James Norton, Vanessa Kirby and Peter Sarsgaard.
The film is based on the life of Gareth Jones, the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ graduate who was the only journalist to stake his name and reputation in reporting on the horrors of the Holodomor, Stalin's genocidal famine of 1932-33.
In 2009 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies organised an exhibition of the 1932-33 diaries of Gareth Jones, which garnered and sought to "share Gareth's story with the world."
The Eleventh Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film
In its eleventh year, the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film featured Invisible Battalion (2017), the first full-length Ukrainian documentary about women at war produced and filmed by women. ItÌýalso screenedÌýthe beloved Soviet classic comedy ChasingÌýTwo Hares (Za dvoma zaitsamy, 1961)Ìýin its original Ukrainian-language version as well as the captivating 2017 documentaryÌý‘Slovo’ House (Budynok ‘Slovo’, 2017), which told the stories of theÌýflamboyant generation of artists, writers, and intellectuals in 1920s Ukraine.
In 2017Ìý°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies partnered with the , AvantisÌýPromotions,ÌýandÌýthe Ìýto screenÌýaÌýselection of new documentaries from Ukraine by Svitlana Shymko and Roman BondarchukÌýas well as Oleksandr Dovzhenko's remastered classic about the revolutionary events of 1917-18, Arsenal. The new °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies bookletÌýNavigating ArsenalÌýwas alsoÌýdistributed to audience members duringÌýthe presentationÌýof the film.
In 2016 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies partnered with the ,Ìý³Ù³ó±ð Ìýand the makers of the 2014ÌýfilmÌýHollywood on the Dnipro: Dreams from Atlantis.Ìý
Among the films screened were Two DaysÌý(1927; dir. H. Stabovyi) and The Night CoachmanÌý(1928; dir. H. Tasin), two newly restored Soviet Ukrainian thrillers about men caught in the violent maelstrom of revolution and pushed to the brink by all sides. Produced under the auspices of VUFKU, the famous All-Ukrainian Photo-Film Administration, the films are notable for their complex presentation of revolution devoid of triumphalismÌýand filtered through the experience of the individual.
In 2015 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies partnered with the to bring six powerful new documentaries to local audiences. DocuDays UA was launched in Kyiv in 2003 as a non-profit organisation dedicated to the development of documentary cinema and to the flourishing of democratic civil society in Ukraine.
Many of the films in the Festival programme confronted the tumult of revolution and war in today’s Ukraine with an uncommon honesty, sensitivity and maturity. They availedÌýthe viewer of the perspectives of the volunteer doctor, the wounded veteran, the soldier preparing to leave home for war. Other films in the programme meditated upon the passing of generations in a Ukraine very far from today’s headlines: the village and countryside.
In 2014 the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film was headlined by two celebrated new films with critical significance for an understanding of contemporary Ukraine: Sergei Loznitsa'sÌý²Ñ²¹¾±»å²¹²ÔÌý(2014) and Akhtem Seitablaiev'sÌýKhaytarmaÌý(2013).ÌýMaidanÌýis a stunning cinematic portrait of the 2013-14 public uprising in Kyiv, one the most significant events in the history of twenty-first century Europe.ÌýKhaytarmaÌýdepicts Stalin's 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars, an ordeal of mass death and brutal dispossession that claimed the lives of at least thirty percent of the entire Crimean Tatar population.Ìý
In 2013 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies celebrated the films of late director Yuri Illienko, includingÌýWhite Bird with a Black MarkÌý(1970), which won the Gold Prize at the Moscow Film Festival, andÌýWell for the ThirstyÌý(1965), which was banned in the Soviet Union for over two decades. The festival also featured Maryna Vroda's touching short film,ÌýThe OathÌý(2007), and Viktoria Melnykova's documentary about Ukraine's legendary choral tradition,ÌýConsonanceÌý(2004).
In 2012 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies partnered with theÌýÌýto bring to °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ two UK premieres: Mykhailo Illienko's blockbusterÌý¹ó¾±°ù±ð°ä°ù´Ç²õ²õ±ð°ùÌý(2012) and Ivan Kavaleridze's remastered classicÌý±á°ù²â³ó´Ç°ù¾±¾±Ìý³§°ì´Ç±¹´Ç°ù´Ç»å²¹Ìý(1959).ÌýThe screening ofÌýHryhorii Skovoroda, held in celebration of the 125th anniversary of Kavaleridze's birth, wasÌý.
In 2011 the Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film was headlined by short films by Volodymyr Tykhyi, Maryna Vroda, and other young, critically-acclaimed directors charging new artistic, social, and political horizons. These films, screened on Friday, 11 November, were followed by a special Q&A with directors Tykhyi and Vroda, whose 'Cross' won the 2011 Palme d'Or at Cannes. On Saturday, 12 November, we were proud to present the British premiere of 'Three Stories of Galicia', a new documentary about fellowship and family in a region gripped by Hitler and Stalin. The film was also followed by a special Q&A with directors Olha Onyshko and Sarah Farhat.
In 2010 the Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film was headlined by Oleksandr Dovzhenko's silent Soviet spy thrillerÌýThe Diplomatic PouchÌý(Sumka dypkur'iera, 1927) and his comedyÌýLove's BerryÌý(Iahodka kokhannia, 1926). These films, screened on Friday, 5 November at the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Arts Picturehouse, were accompanied by a special live piano performance from Geoff Page. On Saturday, 6 November at the Winstanley Theatre, Trinity College, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies proudly presented the UK premiere of a series of brilliant new short films from Ukraine,ÌýJerks -- ArabesquesÌý(Mudaky - Arabesky, 2010), in coordination with theÌý.
Featuring two British premieres as well as a selection of short films, the Second Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film was headlined by Serhii Bukovs'kyi'sÌýThe LivingÌý(2008), recipient of the 2009 Grand Prize of Geneva and the 2009 Award for Best Documentary from the Yerevan International Film Festival. Its second night featured the screening ofÌýLight from the EastÌý(2006/2008) -- praised byÌý³Õ²¹°ù¾±±ð³Ù²âÌýas 'an illuminating time capsule' and byÌýNew Yorkmagazine as 'a gripping documentary' -- followed by a special discussion with director Amy Grappell.Ìý
Titled 'At the Crossroads' (Na perekhresti), the First Annual °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Festival of Ukrainian Film introduced audiences to new currents in Ukrainian cinema and explored themes of border-crossing in Ukrainian society. The films screened on its first night -- headlined by Oles' Sanin'sÌý²Ñ²¹³¾²¹¾±Ìý(2003) -- considered the historical crossing of cultural, ethnic, and religious borders within Ukraine, particularly on the Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian steppe. The films screened on its second night -- headlined by Volodymyr Tykhyi'sÌýCar WashersÌý(2000) -- considered the contemporary crossing of economic, geographic, and generational borders in post-Soviet Ukraine and beyond.