Discoveries from Ukraine World Cinema

The film takes place in Chernihiv in the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. A group of people of different ages and social status find themselves in the basement of a high-rise building, where they are hiding from shelling. After the explosion, the entrance is blocked and everyone stays in the basement for 7 days, facing hunger and constant danger. Under the pressure of fear and uncertainty of who will find them — the Ukrainian army or the Russians — people are divided into warring groups.

The heroes of the picture - poets, composers, sponsors and murderers - come together at the House of Culture. Some - to celebrate the New Year, a killer nicknamed Violinist - to remove the businessman Kishechnikov, and Kostya from the sanitary epidemiological station - to send to eternal rest the dog Moo-moo. Such an accumulation of people in one place inevitably leads to confusion ...

Film based on Nikolai Gogol's story The Night Before Chrisrmas. Melodrama turning into comedy, with eccentricity and elements of eroticism, which does not turn into anything. The film uses folk music and ethnic blues.

Alissa is a Ukrainian model who has taken refuge in Paris. Having just lost someone close to her, she finally gets her first contract for a fashion show. Traumatized by war and exile, Alissa seems indifferent to everything around her, and now seeks only one thing: harmony.

One week before St. Nicholas Day, St. Nicholas writes an application for sick leave. All gifts for polite children are ready, except for one: a 9-year-old girl Yustia did not write him a letter with her wishes. The same is due to his hospitalization and the fact that no child can be left without a gift, St. Nicholas assigns his responsibilities to the girl's father. The girl's father is a musician and composer who, after the death of his wife (the girl's mother), no longer plays music, but tries to make a career as a presenter, forgetting about his child's dreams.

Evgeny Prokhanov, a military test pilot, together with his wife and daughter comes to a small town for a vacation and there he meets a married couple: a famous theater actress Victoria Krasnopolskaya and her husband Vadim Krasnopolsky, a cardiac surgeon. Prokhanov does not even suspect how much this meeting will change his life. Between him and Victoria, passion erupts. They are unable to resist this feeling and want to leave their families. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that Victoria's husband once abandoned his wife because of her, and now Krasnopolskaya feels guilty before him. But the passion between her and Prokhanov is so strong that she still decides to take a difficult step. But only whether it will bring happiness, when, it seems, the whole world against...

Renegade CIA agent Rick Halsey assembles a team of special forces operatives to rescue a Russian nuclear scientist held in a fortified mental institution behind enemy lines.

The story of a family that accidentally finds itself caught up in a farcical series of Christmas adventures together with a dog named Sirko and a wolf pack.

As war ravages their homeland, Ukrainian children flee their homes out of fear. Across the country, young lives are uprooted and transformed overnight. But even amidst devastating loss, the children's resilience and optimism shine through. The original version of the film was 15 minutes long, and it was the one that had the initial festival distribution and screenings. Then, for the release of the film on VOD, the running time was increased to 52 minutes.

A brave group of international volunteers take their converted truck into Ukraine’s Eastern frontline villages to cook, hand out free pizzas and paint the faces of the children. Their presence offers a brief moment of joy and escapism in ‘forgotten’ villages, many of which had been occupied by Russia and which now face reoccupation; villages that have been largely abandoned by their government and by other aid agencies.

A group of friends and bandmates look to escape from the Chornobyl disaster.

February 23, 2022, a small town near Kyiv. Taras (35) and Olia (32) spend the first night in their new apartment. At dawn, they wake up from the explosions. They fail to leave the town on time, meanwhile, the Russian troops arrange headquarters in their building. The couple finds themselves trapped in their flat with no electricity, water, and mobile connection. For the next 5 days, Taras and Olia will explore the black abyss of real intimacy between two people and face crucial existential questions in mortal danger.

The story begins with an ordinary family celebrating New Year at their house. Having seen an announcement on TV about the intergalactic song contest "Cosmovision", Masha immediately decides to take part in it. Her family supports her and goes with her and the aliens to the contest. There, the earthlings meet the stars of intergalactic show business: the legendary singer Diva, the hero Zed, the talented artist Fortiano and the cunning pop singer Baron-Star, who is planning something terrible against the "Cosmovision" participant Masha.

After losing a close person, Olga is left alone with her grief. With no one to share the loss with, she buys a car and goes on a journey around Kyiv and its surroundings. On her way she meets people who have lost themselves: some through constant lies, others because of a bad choice.

A Ukranian flight engineer must infiltrate a highly secretive cult in order to save his abducted son who some believe to be the chosen one that will allow their religion to rule all mankind.

Nikita, talented young dancer, enters Let's Dance competition to earn money for his brother's surgery but a brief encounter with a famous singer Liza, who hosts the competition, puts his chances of winning and even life at risk.

The film tells the story of a robot named Rob. One day he was walking around the city and saw an elderly man sitting in a chair inside the Store of Unwanted Things. Next to the man, there was a sign “For Sale.” The owner of the store said that the goods were up for sale. The man's name was Robert. Rob wanted to have a friend. He made a purchase and received a receipt. Robert explained that he was now Rob's pet and from now on Rob should provide him with a roof over his head, feed him, and make sure he doesn’t get bored. The robot and man started living together…

Plagued by OCD and agoraphobia, Lucy hasn't left her apartment in years. But as therapy shows promise, a dark, hostile force emerges from her subconscious into reality.

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.

Zhenye and Anatoliy Pilipenko’s dream of a quiet place in the country is shattered overnight when Russia invades Ukraine. As rockets fall and fires rage, they face an impossible choice: flee the violence or stay and protect their home. When a soldier on his way to the frontline asks the couple if they can care for his goats – all 37 of them – while he fights in the trenches; their home transforms into the largest animal sanctuary in Eastern Ukraine. From rescued chickens, displaced donkeys, wandering horses and even emus, Anatoliy and Zhenye risk their lives and livelihoods to rescue any part of Ukraine they can. Told primarily through verité, amidst constant danger, heartbreaking loss and improbably an inextinguishable reservoir of hope, Zhenye and Anatoliy’s sanctuary stands as a defiant testament to the unbreakable bond between a nation, its people, and the land they refuse to surrender.

A dual portrait of young drifters on the streets of Odessa, where every day seems the same and the future keeps getting further away.

Having deceived his nurse and left his mother to live out her life alone, a man believes he has bought himself peace. But there is a price to pay for everything, and the price turns out to be higher than he thought.

Maria is young and beautiful. Her life resembles a fairy tale, in which the wishes come true if by magic. She has a smart, loving husband. And all that can be bought for money. Maria wants a child but could not bear it. She lives, but does not feel life. She is very unhappy.

Slavik is 17 years old, a gifted programmer who, despite the pressure from everyone around him, is doing his best to become independent by finding an acting course that is unlike anything he has done before.

Filmed during one night in July 2025 by forty filmmakers and hundreds of citizens, The Illusion of a Quiet Night paints a vast collective portrait of war-torn Ukraine. Between fear and exhaustion, moments of joy and scenes of the ordinary day to day, we watch as life goes on in spite of everything, witnessing the resilience of a nation gripped by uncertainty.

As he did with his critically-acclaimed "Blockade," a documentary re-creation of the WWII siege of Leningrad, which received its NY theatrical premiere in March 2007, filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa has once again scoured the Russian film archives for "Revue," selecting excerpts from newsreels, propaganda films, TV shows and feature films that present an evocative portrait of Soviet life during the 1950s and 1960s. With scenes taken from the length and breadth of the “Soviet Motherland,” "Revue" illustrates industry and agriculture, political life, popular culture, and technology. The film’s fascinating flow of disparate scenes representing typical Soviet life of the period is, seen from today’s perspective, alternately poignant, funny, and tragic

Fifteen years old Tirrei Davenant is a waiter at a roadside restaurant, where on the wall hangs a strange fantastic landscape. One day the millionaire's daughters accidentally visit a restaurant.

Wartime Kyiv. A father helps his daughter to practice driving. They are the only relatives to each other and have a strong connection, but many disagreements in their opinions. The driving lesson ceases to be ordinary when the father is issued a summons at a checkpoint.

Four carefree bachelors get into a car accident after a night of partying and find themselves in purgatory — a world of endless bureaucracy and chaotic digital reforms. At the Heaven’s Office, they receive their sentence: a direct express train to hell. Using their charm, they convince the purgatory secretary to give them a chance — seven days on Earth to atone for their sins. But once back, they realize they’ve fallen into a trap hidden in the perfectly ironic fine print of heaven.

1917, the Crimea. Fanny Kaplan is blind and out of prison. She starts an affair with her doctor, Dmitriy Ilyich Ulyanov. which ends unexpectedly when she runs into her first lover: the terrorist who she went to prison for and who is now in the Russian secret police. Soon after, she is accused of an assassination attempt on Dimitry's brother: Vladimir Ulyanov Lenin.

Trying to discover who now presides over the winter holidays in Ukraine, three legendary gift-givers - Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, and the ancient Spirit of Winter - race to grant little Vira’s every wish. But Vira, embittered, demands that Christmas be wiped from existence. Instantly, carols and holiday cheer vanish from the city and from everyone’s memory, leaving only sorrow in their place. Stripped of their magic and turned into ordinary mortals, the three must join forces to avert the Armageddon unleashed by Christmas’s disappearance, and to restore Vira’s faith in miracles and hope for a bright future.

The public prosecution office of Yalta gets the next scheduled case about the murder in the business-circles. This time the victim is an accountant of one of the big businesses. The investigators set out a lot of leads. But the sphere of the alleged criminals is too wide, and the key will be very uncommon and exticiting.

Full-length documentary about wedding customs and rites from different parts of Ukraine. This film will immerse the viewer in the world of rich, striking and diverse wedding culture of 8 regions of the country: Kyiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Kharkiv, Rivne and Chernivtsi.

The town of Kahaplyk is on the brink of complete disaster: elections again, the same corrupt mayor, the same old story… Five Instagram stars arrive to “fix” the mayor’s reputation. What awaits them are thrilling adventures, a real conspiracy, and, of course, a story of true love!

The film is based on a series of novels by Stas Dombrowski, a former drug addict and criminal who learned that he was HIV positive in 17 years, and plunged into absolute self-destruction for next two decades. Only on his deathbed in prison therapy, knowing that he would die in two weeks, Stas understood that he wants to live more than anything in this world.

The film is about a young trumpeter Nicholas Shevchenko. He's a talented musician, who also writes his own music, attracting the attention of the world famous musician Eugene Gaisin, who tours the city.

Saturday June 14, 2008, at the invitation of the Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk’s Foundation, Paul McCartney gave a free concert in Independence Square, Kyiv, Ukraine. This groundbreaking event has been named the Independence Concert.

Growing up near the border, money wasn’t an issue for these men. But suddenly, a pretty woman appears on their way and ruins all their plans. Get ready for the ground-shaking adventures when they risk everything to make their dreams a reality.

Alexey has got it all: a well-paid job, a nice car, and a woman he is in love with (Sonya). Sonya also happens to be a daughter of an oligarch and is to become his wife in 10 days. Urged by Sonya's dad, Alexey sets out on a business trip to a village of Kurkioki to acquire timber.

As the war wages on, Ukrainians under everyday threat find ways to live. A soldier returns home, a chaplain grapples with the weight of responsibility, and a mother grieves the loss of her family. These stories, amidst others, are a testament of Ukraine’s history, perseverance and plea to be remembered.

This is a story about friendship of little voiceless robot Victor and a 8 year old girl Victoria who live in a far-away world in the distant future.

A married couple decides to divorce, but things don't quite go the way they planned.

Award-winning Ukrainian filmmaker and cinematographer Artem Ryzhykov transforms into a hardened professional soldier as he navigates the confusion, chaos, heartache and reality of modern warfare.

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

What stands behind the Black Square, painted in 1915 by the obsessive artist Kazymyr Malevych? For his competitors, a fraud, for the Soviet regime, a secret code, for one woman, a love letter, for the people of Ukraine – a prophecy…

The short documentary film-"tesaer" (later, based on the material, the director will shoot a full-length film) 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.

Year 1917. Young doctor Valentin Voyno-Yasenetskyj with his wife and four children moved to Tashkent, beset by civil war and intervention. Voyno-Yasenetskyj became head physician in the city hospital. He not only saves hundreds of patients every day, operating under the bullets of the permanent street battles, fighting for his life and life of his beloved wife, dying of TB. In the midst of persecution, he as alone with four children on the outskirts of the former empire, so he decides to become a priest. And since then, he never altered neither scalpel, nor cross, he goes with them through all their hard exiles and arduous life, treating both: body and soul.

This feature documentary follow 5 architects on their determined journeys to continue building during wartime, as they seek a new people-focused identity for Ukrainian architecture. While Russia continues to turn former Ukrainian cities to dust, Ukraine’s leading architects are already building upwards & advanced new buildings are rising again as symbols of hope.

The tax service, together with the investigating authorities and special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is investigating major financial frauds, accompanied by a series of murders of people involved in the crime. “Orders” are executed, undoubtedly, by a talented sniper. Among the alleged victims - the head of a major chemical plant Boris Morin. Employees of the Organized Crime Control Department offer Morin a mutually beneficial deal: in order to stay alive, he must disclose his financial developments to them. Leading analyst of the State Tax Administration Tatyana Uvarova is connected to the investigation.

A biopic about the life of Ukrainian bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine, who had been falsely accused of killing 19 people in what became known as the Second Dreyfuss Affair.

Film tells an exciting story of a confrontation between talented boxer and criminal patrons of mixed fights MMA.

This film is about what the routine of everyday life can do to the human mind and psyche. It also reflects on the importance of the choices we make and how limited these choices are in the first place. The plot evolves around a family of four. They live in the suburbs, in a strange villa that appears, through a complex game of mirrors, to be more like a piece of installation art than a real house. The main character, who hardly appears on screen, is the son, a man in his thirties. Suffering from asthma and eczema since childhood, he uses his condition to manipulate his parents and his sister. Thus the existence of the terrorized family turns into an endless ritual of attempting to satisfy his whims, and always on the alert for yet another one of his “health crises”. Las Meninas resembles the scattered pieces of a puzzle. It is up to the viewer to assemble them in order to form his very own picture – something that makes the film itself personal and unique.

Poliske was contaminated with radioactive material after the 1986 Chornobyl disaster. Soviet authorities did everything they could to erase the ancient history of this town, and after Chornobyl, they destroyed its future.

Strange things happened in the pole dance gym after the trainer caught a peeper behind the door.

On the eve of Christmas, the tears of the poor girl Marusia melted the cold and indifferent heart of the wealthy landlord. Based on the fairy tale “Tear” by the Ukrainian writer Marko Cheremshyna.

Slow life in a small seaside town N is suddenly disturbed by a local scandal around a man who has recently passed away. Only his wife and his friend know where he was buried, and they refuse to tell the others, seemingly in accordance to his last will. Each character seeks answers to the questions of their own, but they are searching on the outside, inquiring society and each other, so their efforts are futile. Something is about to happen.

Egor, a Ukrainian MMA fighter, is wrongly convicted of the murder of his trainer, and upon release from prison he sets out to find those truly responsible. Along the way he falls in love with his boss's mistress, putting them both in danger ahead of the biggest fight of his life.

Genka is a schoolboy from Moscow. Having seen enough American action movies, he longs for adventure and the opportunity to try himself in a real man's business. His imagination is filled with visions of his idols - Schwarzenegger, Stallone, star humanoids - who offer Genka to leave the earth. However, the hero chooses the "region of heaven“ with true idols who restore the concepts of friendship, honor, and love to their noble meaning, which have been devalued today.