The Ukrainian Docs: Favourites programme includes seven documentaries which we carefully searched for, watched repeatedly, and which we are gladly sharing with you. These are films of the last five years which were part of the Docudays UA programme at one point or another

Watch them in our DOCUSPACE online cinema till 03 April 2022.

Here’s some information about the films in the selection:

Don't Worry, The Doors Will Open

director: Oksana Karpovych

Ukraine, Canada | 2019 | 78’

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.

In Ukrainian and Russian with Ukrainian and English subtitles.

Ukrain­ian Sheriffs

director: Roman Bondarchuk

Germany, Latvia, Ukraine | 2015 | 85’

A car with a small Ukrainian flag is cruising around the village of Stara Zburyivka. Two ‘sheriffs’, 50-year-old Viktor Kryvoborodko and 44-year-old Volodymyr Rudkovsky, save a woman from an anaconda, calm down arguments and stop fights. Since there are practically no police in the village, the local men have undertaken to maintain public order. For Viktor and Volodymyr, Stara Zburyivka is their country, which they will defend against anything — particularly against the separatists, who show up as the war in eastern Ukraine begins.

In Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles.

Euro­maidan. Rough Cut

director: Volodymyr Tykhyi, Andriy Lytvynenko, Kateryna Gornostai, Roman Bondarchuk, Yulia Gontaruk, Andrey Kiselyov, Roman Liubyi, Oleksandr Techynskyi, Oleksiy Solodunov, Dmitry Stoykov

Ukraine | 2014 | 60’

Three months of revolution. From indignant protest to national unity. From pots on their heads to batons and body armor. From the euphoria of victory to the mourning of the fallen Heavenly Hundred. Revolution as an explosion of revived dignity, as the euphoria of freedom, as the pain of awareness at the cost, as the birth of the modern history of Ukraine. This year we have decided not to have an opening film, because all our attention is focused on the changes taking place in our country today. We have asked the directors who filmed the Ukrainian protests to share their best shots with us. The episodes of these upcoming films about the Euromaidan were formed in a kaleidoscope of revolution, which needs no comment. We offer you a chronicle of the Ukrainian protest. Experience the three months of fighting with us, feel and see the revolution through our eyes. 

Content warning: violence.

In Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles.

The Diviners

director: Roman Bordun

Ukraine | 2019 | 60’

The main characters of the film are the inhabitants of the contemporary Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Lviv. Their reality is multi-layered, unvarnished, deprived of unambiguous interpretations of good and evil, humanity and cruelty, charity and indifference. This story is a kaleidoscope, which features all of us: the righteous, the merciless, the funny, the naïve. The honest.

Content warning: coarse language, alcohol abuse.

In Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles.

Above the Styx

producer: Maria Stoianova

Ukraine | 2019 | 29’

Thousands come to the cemetery for Hrobky (Memorial Day) to commemorate their departed relatives, to get blessed, to celebrate life... It’s a wonderful tradition, isn't it?

In Russian with English subtitles.

Mus­tard in the Gar­dens

director: Piotr Armianovski

Ukraine | 2017 | 37’

Olena is going home, to the village on the frontline in the ‘grey zone’ of the Donetsk region where she spent her childhood. In the garden, her brother has planted mustard to prevent weeds from getting into their neighbours’ garden. The girl lies down in the prickly grass and recalls how big and tasty the apricots, cherries, pears used to be...

In Russian with English subtitles.