Cultural Code of Ukraine: East (2023)

Ukraine's War: The Other Side

The documentary follows filmmaker Sean Langan's journey into the invader’s Russian side of the war in Eastern Ukraine. Sean heads into the Russian-occupied Donbas region to find out through the eyes of soldiers on the Eastern front and civilians coping with war in the streets how the conflict is affecting them.

The Hardest Hour

The unique testimony of the tragic events and crimes of russia through the eyes of Ukrainians, which the entire world must see and feel. Film was created from 200 hours of chronicles: survival, resistance, and life during the war. Every minute was filmed by Ukrainians with their mobile phones. Each story in the documentary is a film captured and filmed by Ukrainians on their devices.

Region of Heroes

Film reconstruction of five real stories about the heroic deeds of the residents of Kyiv region during the Russian occupation. A story about those who heroically and selflessly saved tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives.

Maidan

A chronicle of the civil uprising against the regime of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych that took place in Kyiv in the winter of 2013/14. The film follows the progress of the revolution: from peaceful rallies, half a million strong in the Maidan square, to the bloody street battles between protesters and riot police.

Den Pobedy: Victory Day

"Den Pobedy" (Victory Day) is counted among the most important celebrations for many former Soviet Republics. It is held on May 9 and commemorates the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). This day pays homage to the war veterans and to the over 26 million Soviets who lost their lives fighting this war. Kalinichenko Vasily Porfirievich fought in the Red Army on the 3rd Ukrainian Front and on the 1st Belarusian Front. As a member of the 226th Infantry Regiment he entered Berlin on April 22, 1945. This documentary explores the war, his life and his family story.

Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods

A revealing and moving portrait of lives compromised by war, filmed exclusively by Ukrainian soldiers with extraordinary access to a tightly-controlled frontline.

Cossacks Approaching

Ukraine. The end of the XV century. All gunpowder made in factories suddenly disappears. The company of cossacks led by Maksym Trytuz comes together to find one of the transports that carries gunpowder to the Zaporozhian Sich.

20 Days in Mariupol

As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.

Taras Bulba

Ukraine, 16th century. While the Poles dominate the Cossack steppes, Andrei, son of Taras Bulba, a Cossack leader, must choose between his love for his family and his folk and his passion for a Polish woman.

Ukraine: The People's Fight

Filmmaker Olly Lambert spends two months on Ukraine’s southern frontline with volunteer special forces as they begin the push to capture Kherson. The film follows “Hummer”, an experienced military commander who now finds himself a chaperone to completely inexperienced forces on the frontline.

Shards of Light

War has ravaged the Ukrainian city of Bucha, whose residents have endured unimaginable hostility and suffering. If hope remains a faint glimmer, the will to survive still shines through in this powerful and unflinching film.

Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine

The film looks at people transformed by a democratic revolution, who give up their normal lives to fight a Russian invasion, in a war which has killed 10,000 and displaced 1.9 million Ukrainians.

Slava Ukraini

One year after the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy takes us to the heart of the combat through this war diary made during the second half of 2022. From Kharkiv and Bakhmut to Kherson, in the aftermath of the city’s liberation, this documentary bears witness to the ravages of war through the testimonies of soldiers, chronicles of the front and portraits of civilians, and shares with us the struggle of the Ukrainian people.

Mr. Jones

In 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones travels to Ukraine, where he experiences the horrors of a famine. Everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out. Stalin’s forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin—the policy is tantamount to mass murder.

Match in a Haystack

When Russia invaded, the women of Ukraine's leading contemporary dance group struggled to find purpose in their work. A search for new forms of resistance ultimately led them back to dance.

Osteuropa zwischen Hitler und Stalin - Das große Sterben

Between 1930 and 1945, Eastern Europe experienced mass violence on an unprecedented scale. Hitler and Stalin exploited the vast region for their respective expansionist plans. It is estimated that around 14 million civilians were murdered—primarily Jews, Poles, Balts, Belarusians, and Ukrainians.

Zelensky - A President At War

The war is raging in Ukraine that is changing the world order. One man is standing up to Russia and wants to restore peace and security in his own country: President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Over 93 days in Ukraine, what started as peaceful student demonstrations became a violent revolution and full-fledged civil rights movement.

Good evening, we're from Barcelona

Film made by activists who lived for a month in the Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Kherson: Human Safari

Kherson, Ukraine's embattled city, has endured invasion, occupation, and liberation. On February 24, 2022, Russian tanks entered Kherson, leading to brutal occupation marked by violence. Despite being outnumbered, local defense forces resisted, and citizens protested under the slogan "Kherson is Ukraine!" An underground resistance formed, led by brave individuals like journalist Valentyna and others who risked arrest and torture to support the cause. After nine months, Ukrainian forces liberated Kherson, but Russian destruction left the city in chaos. Shelling and drone attacks became relentless, and in June 2023, a dam explosion flooded the city, causing further devastation. Despite these challenges, Kherson's spirit remained unbroken, with citizens embracing arts and resilience. By August 2024, drone attacks specifically targeted civilians, yet the city resisted, determined to rebuild and reclaim its identity, refusing to succumb to ruin.

Khadjibey Fortress

Son Kale Hacibey is a historical action film that tells the story of a battle between the Turkish Ottoman Empire and the Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire on the one hand, and the Russian Empire on the other hand. The forces are fighting to gain control of the Hacibey Castle, an impenetrable fortress located on the Black Sea coast in the heart of Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire. And just when the Russians thought they were winning the battle against Ukrainians and Turks, a mysterious hero - a brave Ukrainian cossack warrior Andriy - arrives in Istambul to deliver a secret message from from Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire's leadership. A message that can forever change the course of this battle.

Viktor

Viktor, who was born deaf, worships the figure of the samurai warrior. When bombs start falling on his countryside home in Kharkiv, his quasi-romantic obsession with war is put to the test.

Eastern Front

On February 24, 2022, Yevhen, together with his friends, volunteered to join the first aid squad on the front line. They provided life-saving support and evacuation of the wounded. This film reveals the experiences of these young men for six months full of drama, despair, fear, hatred, bitterness, love, and, most importantly, faith in victory.

Our War

Between February and April 2025, filmmakers Bernard-Henri Lévy and Marc Roussel filmed the Pokrovsk and Soumy fronts in eastern Ukraine, following the fighters of the Anne de Kyiv Brigade, armed by France. They filmed the daily lives of the inhabitants, bombarded by Russian forces terrorizing civilians on the eve of possible negotiations. They interview President Zelenskyy, who is reluctant to travel to Washington, and then watch the rebroadcast of the meeting with Ukrainian soldiers in a bunker. For the real heroes are the anonymous fighters and civilians who hold their heads high in the face of adversity and suffering, and who are filmed on a daily basis. The final part of Lévy’s “Ukrainian Quartet”, Our War is a diary, peppered with flashbacks in which the author recalls the high points of this war that began in 2014.

Superpower

Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s documentary, shot just before and after Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022, and featuring several interviews with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

V. Silvestrov

There is a rumor in the Kyiv musical community: once upon a time, in private conversation, Queen Elizabeth II mentioned Valentyn Silvestrov as one of her favorite composers of the modern age. The Royal Press Office hasn’t confirmed it, so no one knows for sure. But the stature of Silvestrov justifies this rumor. Highly respected by the world’s best music professionals, he remains a mystery for a wide audience. The documentary is far from a traditional biopic about a prominent person. It is an observation, a confession and, most of all, a story of great talent set against the backdrop of uncertain times.

Bitter Harvest

Set between the two World Wars and based on true historical events, Bitter Harvest conveys the untold story of the Holodomor, the genocidal famine engineered by the tyrant Joseph Stalin. The film displays a powerful tale of love, honour, rebellion and survival at a time when Ukraine was forced to adjust to the horrifying territorial ambitions of the burgeoning Soviet Union.

Mariupolis

The city of Mariupolis is by the Azov sea. It is also on the river Kalmius. Most of the city’s residents, half a million according to the last census, are working for the steel factory and do fishing, for leisure or food, in between shifts. The orthodox church towers above the city and its newly build bronze domes are sitting next to it, waiting to be donned. A tent near by is sheltering a crying icon, which receives a steady flow of visitors.

A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa

During an interesting era in the history of Eastern Europe when Russia, under Peter the Great, and Sweden, under King Charles XII, struggled for power, Ukraine was the pawn in the middle. In 1709, Ivan Mazepa, Hetman of Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire, signed a pact with the Swedish king promising to support Sweden in its war against Russia provided that Ukraine was given its independence.

Babi Yar. Context

Nazi troops massacre 30,000 Jews over a three-day period in September 1941. Babyn Yar ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Mariana's Room

In the darkest days of the Second World War, Yulia and Hugo, a Jewish mother and son, escape from a Ukrainian ghetto. Fearing for his safety, Yulia entrusts her boy to the care of her friend Mariana, a sex worker who lives in a brothel. Hugo is placed in a closet, nominally for his safety, but from which he rarely leaves. With little view of the outside world, he conjures up ghosts and scenarios. But over time, Mariana brings the boy out and in doing so transforms his life.

The Hamlet Syndrome

Five young Ukrainians discuss life following the Maidan Revolution of 2014. Not all fought in the Russian-Ukrainian war, but it, regardless, shattered their life plans. Representing 'Generation Maidan', they face the question of how to cope with experiences of violence, how to go on. A local theatre director produces Hamlet, wherein they can use Shakespeare’s tragic character as a mirror and face their traumas onstage. For them, 'to be or not to be' is not simply text but an existential dilemma with no clear answer.

A President, Europe and War

They call each other Emmanuel and Vladimir - but despite the informal tone, a fateful negotiation is taking place. During France's presidency of the EU, President Macron takes on the task of negotiating with President Putin in an attempt to prevent an invasion of Ukraine. For the first time, we get to follow the diplomatic game behind the scenes and hear parts of their phone conversations.

Euromaidan. Rough Cut

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.

Mariupolis 2

In 2022, Mantas Kvedaravičius went back to Ukraine, Mariupol, at the heart of the war, to be with the people he had met and filmed in 2015. Following his death, his producers and collaborators have put all their strength into continuing transmitting his work, his vision and his films. Also a PhD in anthropology, Mantas Kvedaravičius wished to testify as a filmmaker as far as possible from the agitation of the media and the politicians. With huge force and sensitivity, Mariupolis 2 depicts life as it continues amidst the bombing and reveals images that convey both tragedy and hope.

Maksym Osa: The Gold of Werewolf

Ukraine - 1636. Someone has attacked a battalion of cossacks that were transporting the gold of the Polish king. A cossack - Maksym Osa - tries to find the missing gold, but soon becomes one of the main suspects.

The Basement

The village of Yahidne in northern Ukraine is coming back to life. Dogs are running around. Gardens and crops are green again. People support one another and families have reunited. In a movement of solidarity, local youth help rebuild what was devastated a year ago when Russian troops occupied the village imprisoning the villagers in the school's basement for a month. The villagers' attitudes alternate between their desire to move forward an remembering the horrors of the past. A heartwarming tribute to resilience and unity.

The Golden Gates

The film-remembrance of the creative fate of the Ukrainian Soviet film director Alexander Dovzhenko, shot on his diaries. It has his statements about his work, about the role of the artist in society, his plans and sources of inspiration, his artistic style and the peculiarities of his worldview. Used excerpts from his films and documentary footage taken during the director's life, as well as filmed fragments of the unfinished scripts " The Death of the Gods” and “Tsar”.

Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Personal stories from civilians, children, soldiers, doctors, the country’s elderly, journalists, religious leaders, and international volunteers - a handful of the millions of people whose lives have been turned upside-down by nine years (and counting) of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Belarus: An Ordinary Dictatorship

It’s the last dictatorship of Europe, caught in a Soviet time-warp, where the secret police is still called the KGB and the president rules by fear. Disappearances, political assassinations, waves of repression and mass arrests are all regular occurances. But while half of Belarus moves closer to Russia, the other half is trying to resist…

Oleksa Dovbush

The story of the "Hutsul Robin Hood" Oleksa Dovbush, an 18th century Carpathian Mountains outlaw who's a popular figure of Ukrainian legend.

The Gas Weapon

Analysis of the impact of natural gas - more specifically, the Ukrainian and European dependence on Russian gas - on European politics in the wake of Euromaidan. Featuring interviews with high-level government officials, journalists and industry analysts from several countries, the film argues that a generation after its break from the USSR, Ukraine is independent in name only. To bring the country to its knees, all Russia has to do to is turn off the gas, as it did briefly in the winters of 2005 and 2009.

This Rain Will Never Stop

This Rain Will Never Stop takes the audience on a powerful, visually arresting journey through humanity’s endless cycle of war and peace. The film follows 20-year-old Andriy Suleyman as he tries to secure a sustainable future while navigating the human toll of armed conflict. From the Syrian civil war to strife in Ukraine, Andriy’s existence is framed by the seemingly eternal flow of life and death.

Art Vs War: Banksy And C215 In Borodianka, Ukraine

In the aftermath of war-torn Borodyanka, Ukraine, powerful murals by renowned street artists Banksy and C215 appear on the war-damaged buildings, inspiring a group of young Italian restorers to preserve these symbols of hope and resilience, that represent the transformative power of art.

The Winter Garden’s Tale

The film’s story is based on the fate of the Floriculture Pavilion of the former Exhibition of Achievements of the People’s Economy, and its elderly employee Valentyna Voronina, who maintains this space, investing her own life into it, until suddenly changes come to her. After forty-five years of work, she is asked to retire. But Voronina does not agree with that, because she thinks that all the plants will die without her. Meanwhile, a group of mysterious radioesthesists find a channel of positive energy right in front of the entrance to the pavilion.

Camp Courage

Made refugees by the war in Ukraine, Olga and her granddaughter Milana travel to a summer camp in the Austrian Alps to test the limits of their own bravery, and to strengthen their growing bond.