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In November 2020, the Ukrainian Institute London and Cambridge Ukrainian Studies hosted an online festival of Ukrainian films, showcasing four gripping contemporary Ukrainian films and holding online Q&As with the films’ directors.
The generous financial support of Cambridge Ukrainian Studies allowed UK audiences to watch the films free of charge. The films were available to watch for two weeks via our festival platform developed by Takflix.
The Forgotten
In occupied Donbas, 30-year-old teacher Nina witnesses student Andrii get arrested for raising the Ukrainian flag, prompting her to risk her life to free him. As they gravitate towards each other, they try to remind others and themselves that they deserve a future, too. Age rating:18+.
Director: Daria Onyshchenko
Genre: Drama Year: 2019 Duration: 105 min
Language: Ukrainian & Russian with English subtitles
The Gateway
Inside the Chornobyl exclusion zone, Baba Prisia, the family matriarch, consorts with water nymphs, eats a diet filled with hallucinogenic mushrooms and claims to have personally stabbed 12 SS soldiers to death during World War II. She lives together with her chronically ill daughter Slava and grandson Vovchyk. Unexpectedly, their measured life comes to an end – Baba Prisia receives a mystical warning about an impending catastrophe. Age rating15+.
Director: Volodymyr Tykhyy
Genre: Mystical thriller Year: 2017 Duration: 107 min
Language: Ukrainian with English subtitles
Home Games
Alina has almost made it from rags to riches – from growing up on the streets to becoming a 20-year-old football star. But a series of personal tragedies force her to cut short her dreams and take on the role of carer to her two younger siblings. The documentary offers a hard look at the reality of battling poverty, at the strengths of women and at the prospect of new beginnings.
Director: Alisa Kovalenko
Genre: Documentary Year: 2018 Duration: 86 min
Language: Ukrainian & Russian with English subtitles
Train: Kyiv-War
Dramatic real footage follows the stories of passengers on the Kyiv-Kostiantynivka
line – a twelve-hour journey from Ukraine’s peaceful capital to a small city in the east, right on the frontline of the war with Russia. People from various backgrounds with different political views all travel side by side. They talk, debate, even quarrel. But they all move in the same direction, and at least agree on one thing: the wish for peace.
Director: Korniy Hrytsiuk
Genre: Documentary Year: 2020 Duration: 72 min
Language: Ukrainian & Russian with English subtitles
DARIA ONYSHCHENKO
Born in Kyiv, Daria Onyshchenko gained her first experience as a theatre director at the Karpenko Kary Theater Institute in Kyiv from 2003-2004. She later studied feature film directing at the University of Television and Film in Munich and wrote, directed and produced a number of scripts and award-winning short films. In 2014 she completed her studies with the feature film Eastalgia, filmed in Germany, Serbia and Ukraine. The film premiered the same year at the 46th International Hof Film Festival and was later screened at more than 20 film festivals worldwide, winning various prizes. Daria is represented by the German talent agency Above The Line and is a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy.
THE FORGOTTEN Ukraine Switzerland 2019, EASTALGIA Germany Serbia Ukraine 2014
ALISA KOVALENKO
Alisa Kovalenko is an award-winning director, from Zaporizhia, Ukraine. Following her debut documentary Sister Zo, Alisa (like many other Ukrainian directors) found herself in the midst of the turmoil of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and of the subsequent war in Eastern Ukraine. These events took her from the barricades of Maidan to the toughest battle of the war – the battle for the Donetsk airport in Donbas. In 2015, she released her second full-length documentary, Alisa in Warland, which premiered the same year at the ‘First Appearance’ competition at the IDFA in Amsterdam. Following this success, Alisa worked for more than two years on Home Games, filmed in Ukraine, France and Poland.Selected filmography:
HOME GAMES Ukraine France Poland 2018, ALISA IN WARLAND Poland 2015, SISTER ZO Ukraine 2014
VOLODYMYR TYKHYY
Volodymyr Tykhyy is a filmmaker and producer from Chervonohrad, Ukraine, who studied Feature Film Directing at the Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv State Institute of Theatrical Art. He began his career in 1993 directing commercials and has since made a large number of short films, features, and documentaries. His feature film debut, Car Washer (2010) was screened at the Karlovy Vary IFF. He is the author, director and co-producer of the projects Mudaky. Arabesky and Ukraine, Goodbye! In 2013 he filmed The Green Jacket, which competed at the San Sebastian IFF, Warsaw IFF and Tbilisi IFF. He later directed the documentary web-series Babylon’13 dedicated to the 2013-2015 social and cultural revolution in Ukraine. Contains scenes of a sexual nature and violence. Age rating: 15+Selected filmography:
NASHI KOTYKY (LETHAL KITTENS) Ukraine Canada USA 2020, BRAMA (THE GATEWAY) Ukraine USA 2017, CAPTIVES Ukraine USA 2015, OUR HOPE Ukraine 2014, #BABYLON’13 Ukraine 2013, THE GREEN JACKET Ukraine 2013, UKRAINE, GOODBYE! Ukraine 2012
KORNIY HRYTSIUK
Korniy Hrytsiuk is a 29-year-old film director and screenwriter. In 2018 Korniy premiered his independent feature mockumentary film 2020#desertedcountry at the Molodist IFF in Kyiv in International Program Forma – the oldest and biggest film festival in Ukraine. The mockumentary was selected for screening at many prestigious festivals around the globe, like Cottbus IFF in Germany and the Strasbourg IFF.Selected filmography:
TRAIN: KYIV-WAR Ukraine 2020, 2020#desertedcountry Ukraine 2018
