Ukraine

  • Dmytro Moyseyev – Taki krasyvi lyudy AKA Such Beautiful People (2013)

    2011-2020Dmytro MoyseyevDramaUkraine

    Quote:
    This gorgeous movie—artfully composed in a muted sandy palette with exquisite attention to visual detail—takes place on the shores of the Black Sea in Crimea, where a group of neighbors seek tranquility and fulfillment fishing and striving to live lives of meaning, outside the bustle and cynicism of city life. This is a film about universal themes of human interaction and love and explores the full range of human desires and relationships. Such Beautiful People is a gentle story of gentle people striving to make their lives better, to find true happiness, and to better understand one another. (via cinema.indiana.edu)Read More »

  • Yuri Gruzinov & Yaroslav Pilunskiy & Yuliya Shashkova – The First Company (2018)

    2011-2020DocumentaryUkraineWarYaroslav PilunskiyYuliya ShashkovaYuri Gruzinov

    The Ukrainian Revolution (2013-2014) and the war with Russia in the Donbas are nearing. The film deals with the history of the First Company of the Maidan, which defeated the enemy within and advanced to the frontlines to fight the external enemy. Immersion in the epicentre of events, a frank artistic and civilian view of human relationships against the background of violent social upheaval. Immutable human stories, the collision of charismatic characters, challenges and solutions on the verge of life and death, the search for interaction, the first steps towards the formation of civil society… All of this is summed up by an understanding of the way already travelled and an optimistic view of Ukraine’s future.Read More »

  • Sergei Loznitsa – Babi Yar. Context (2021)

    Sergei Loznitsa2021-2030DocumentaryUkraine

    Quote:
    In his latest documentary, Sergei Loznitsa takes viewers to Nazi-occupied Ukraine and, working exclusively with uniquely restored archive materials, shows us the background of the tragic events that took place just outside occupied Kyiv in September 1941 – the massacre of more than 33,000 Jewish residents. Loznitsa’s seventh film shown at Cannes offers a chilling report on these events and places them into a broader context. When memory turns into oblivion, when the past overshadows the future, it is the voice of cinema that articulates the truth.Read More »

  • Oksana Karpovych – Ne khvylyuysya, dveri vidchynyatsya AKA Don’t Worry the Doors Will Open (2019)

    2011-2020DocumentaryOksana KarpovychUkraine

    For her first feature, Oksana Karpovych adopts a prolific documentary sub-genre, the train film, to take the pulse of Ukraine, her native country.

    Shot over summer and winter seasons on the elektrychka, a typical Soviet commuter train that travels between Kyiv and several small provincial towns, Don’t Worry, The Doors Will Open invites us to share a ride with working-class, mostly marginalised passengers and vendors. Following a number of people and families from one grimy wagon to another, from station to station, we are immersed in their everyday struggles and learn about the dilemmas of building a new post-revolutionary identity. Don’t Worry, The Doors Will Open is an atmospheric and intensely human vérité portrait of Ukrainian society on the move.Read More »

  • Yegor Troyanovsky – Aerodrome (2015)

    2011-2020DocumentaryUkraineWarYegor Troyanovsky

    One of the best Ukrainian shorts on the war in Donbas. Minimalistic picture of just one day in the proximity of the Donetsk airport during its siege.Read More »

  • Kateryna Gornostai – Stop-Zemlia (2021)

    2021-2030DramaKateryna GornostaiUkraine

    Synopsis:
    It‘s Masha, Yana and Senia‘s last but one year of high school. Among the thriving pot plants in the classroom and to the sound effects of a Biology lesson about physical signs of stress, the young protagonists grapple with themselves and with one another. 16-year-old Masha is the quiet center of Kateryna Gornostai’s feature debut. Steering clear of both simplified narratives and overly simplistic psychology, the film depicts her as introverted, sensitive and in love with Sasha, another classmate whose aloofness and passivity she finds a perpetual challenge. When Masha is dancing alone in her room at night, high above the rooftops of a city somewhere in the Ukraine, nothing about it feels staged. Rather, it is an invocation of the moment, of genuine emotion – and of pain.Read More »

  • Natalya Vorozhbit – Pohani dorogy AKA Bad Roads (2020)

    2011-2020DramaNatalya VorozhbitUkraine

    Four short stories are set along the roads of Donbass during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of just what is going on. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenceless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge.Read More »

  • Valentyn Vasyanovych – Atlantis (2019)

    2011-2020DramaSci-FiUkraineValentyn Vasyanovych

    A soldier suffering from PTSD befriends a young volunteer hoping to restore peaceful energy to a war-torn society.

    13 wins & 11 nominations.Read More »

  • Sergii Storozhev – My Sweet Home (2020)

    2011-2020DramaSergii StorozhevUkraine

    After the woman’s death, a quarrel breaks out between her three children over their shared apartment where they spent childhood. In the province, even a small amount of money is life-saving for people. The youngest son Pasha is against selling. He still lives here and in addition, he took care of his old mother. But both his brother and sister are convinced of the need to sell it. When relatives run out of arguments, they start doing horrible, and above all, irreversible things. After all, when there is money, even between relatives, people change.Read More »

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