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This article was first published on August 19th, 2024.
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The History of Ukrainian Documentary Cinema (Part II)
Ukrainian educational films in the 1950s and 1960s
Despite reduced pressure from the authorities on cultural figures and the deterioration of Stalin’s personality cult, documentary filmmaking during the “Khrushchev Thaw” period still suffered from censorship, with certain films withdrawn from circulation.
Declaration of Love (1966) by Rolan Serhiienko portrays life in the Soviet Union through a woman’s perspective. The director was accused of distorting reality, and the film was shelved. Due to “political shortsightedness and the use of nationalist motives”, Sonata for a Painter (1966) by Viktor Shkurin was also banned. This film depicted the life of Ivan Honchar, a collector of Ukrainian antiquities who turned his Kyiv apartment into a unique museum.
Ivan Honchar in his studio. Source: Ukrinform
The creation of mini-documentaries was an important step in the development of documentary cinema during the Soviet era. These documentary features chronicled the construction and launch of large industrial enterprises and energy facilities, the development of villages, and urbanisation. These recordings were put together to make educational and enlightening newsreels that were later broadcast on television.
A significant event in the world of documentary cinema during this period was the film Kermanychi‘ by Ihor Hrabovskyi, created in 1965 in collaboration with cinematographer Yurii Tkachenko. It tells the story of “bokorashes”, woodcutters in the Ukrainian Carpathians who would float lumber from mountain peaks down to valleys using the Cheremosh mountain river. Kermanychi received awards at prestigious international documentary film festivals in London, Leipzig, Oberhausen, and New York and became a valuable testament to a profession that was no longer passed down to the next generations by the early 1970s.
Ukrainian documentary filmmaking of the 1970s and 1980s
The rapid development of science significantly expanded the thematic scope and the number of films produced by the “Kyivnaukfilm” studio, which released scientific, educational, animated, and documentary films. Documentary filmmaker Felix Sobolev created a series of films showcasing various experiments, including The Language of Animals (1967),Seven Steps to the Horizon (1968), Do Animals Think? (1969), and Me and Others (1971).
The poetics of Ukrainian documentary cinema were developed by director Oleksandr Koval. Seeking to change the image of cinema as a tool of propaganda or moral instruction, he began to capture generational memories by filming individual people’s lives. Malanka’s Wedding (1979) is a psychological portrait of a woman from the World War II generation. Oh Dear, These Guests Have Come To Me (1989), directed by Pavlo Fareniuk with Koval as cinematographer, tells the story of a witness to the Holodomor of 1932-1933.
Frame from the film Discover Yourself by Oleksandr Koval
Due to the policy of glasnost, which allowed information to be publicly broadcast without ideological pressure, documentary journalism became more active. Ukrainian filmmakers returned to reflecting on traumatic periods caused by Soviet occupation. For instance, they created documentaries dedicated to the artificial famine of 1932-1933, including 33rd, Eyewitness Testimony (1989) by Mykola Laktionov-Stezenko and Under the Sign of Famine (1990) by Kostiantyn Krainii.
In 1986, the Chornobyl disaster shattered the population’s remaining trust in the government. A group of documentary filmmakers led by Volodymyr Shevchenko arrived at the power plant 18 days after the explosion, on May 14, 1986, and spent nearly 100 days there filming in the most dangerous zones. Censors cut some scenes from the film Chornobyl: Chronicle of Difficult Weeks, but it still aired. The film not only covers the causes of the accident but also its preconditions, including the involvement of Soviet authorities.
Chornobyl: Chronicle of Difficult Weeks was one of the first documentaries to systematically record the aftermath of the explosion. It covers the construction of the shelter structure, or “sarcophagus”, over the power plant; the pumping of liquid nitrogen into the burning reactor; and the evacuation of people from contaminated areas.
A month after the premiere, Shevchenko died from lung cancer caused by radiation exposure. In his diary, he wrote: “If someone tells me that if I hadn’t gone in, I would still have my lungs, I would immediately respond: I’d rather be without lungs than, like some, without honour.”
Gradually, the “Critical School of Ukrainian Documentary”’ (1987–1995) was formed, including directors Serhii Bukovskyi, Izrail Holdshtein, and Heorhii Shkliarevskyi. They expressed views on the inefficiency of the Soviet state system, social injustice, and mass democratic movements. A breakthrough for the school was Serhii Bukovskyi’s debut film Tomorrow Is a Holiday’ (1987), which depicted the daily lives of workers at a typical Soviet poultry farm. It shows life in dormitories; a lack of basic amenities and comfort; and fatigue from monotonous state holidays, parades, and other rituals. The director filmed on state commission but also used the image of the poultry farm as a metaphor for the entire Soviet Union. Bukovskyi noted that this subtext emerged only after the editing process.
Ukrainian documentary cinema in the first decade of independence
In the crisis-ridden 1990s, documentary cinema became a way to search for identity, rediscover history, and grasp new social values. The difficult situation of the film industry during this period was linked to a lack of state support and the absence of legislation for private film production. Despite these challenges, high-quality works were still produced. In 1993, the Unknown Ukraine documentary series was created, involving 68 directors and 50 cinematographers. Each episode recounted a specific historical period, from ancient times to the achievement of independence.
In the early 2000s, the influence of television grew as it began commissioning and broadcasting documentary films, leading to a proliferation of documentary series. In 2003, Serhii Bukovskyi created the War. The Ukrainian Account documentary series about World War II events in Ukraine. Later, in 2006, he directed the film Spell Your Name, where he interviews people who survived the Holocaust in 1941-1942. American director Steven Spielberg served as executive producer.
In parallel, the younger generation of documentarians was honing their skills, eventually taking leading positions in Ukrainian cinematography. In his debut documentary exploration titled Songs of the Forgotten (2000), Volodymyr Tykhyi delves into the issue of identity among Ukrainians resettled to the Far East between 1882 and 1914. The only thing connecting these people to their ancestors is Ukrainian songs. Similar themes of exploring people’s roots appear in Valentyn Vasianovych’s first short documentary, Old People (2001). Films dedicated to the events of the Orange Revolution included Oles Sanin’s The Seventh Day and Serhii Masloboishchykov’s People from Maidan. Nevseremos! (2005).
In 2005, Ukraine received its first Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for the short film Wayfarers by Ihor Strembitskyi. The film, which was Strembitskyi’s graduation project at the Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television, depicts the daily life of a neuropsychiatric hospital near Kyiv. Despite the film’s success, it did not secure a prosperous career for the director. Amidst the industry crisis, Strembitskyi, like many of his colleagues, turned to work in television.
Among the most resonant projects in Ukrainian television documentaries at that time were two investigative series by the 1+1 TV channel: Uniform of Brutality, which exposed abuses by law enforcement agencies, and White Robe Negligence, which highlighted corruption within healthcare institutions. These documentaries led to official investigations and the dismissal of local government officials.
Screenshot of the cover of one of the episodes from the Uniform of Brutality series.
The early 2010s ushered documentary cinema into a lethargic state: independent documentary projects remained in prolonged development, while television documentaries often received insufficient funding and airtime. For the 20th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, Serhiy Bukovskyi created the documentary TV film Ukraine. The Starting Point, which closely traces the events of three years in Ukrainian history, namely 1989, 1990, and 1991, when Ukraine finally won its independence.
Documentary filmmaking in Ukraine after the Maidan Revolution
Ukrainian documentary filmmaking on the Maidan became a form of civic activism. This genre was created by artists who filmed the events of the revolution daily and shared them on social networks. The “Babylon’13” Ukrainian documentary filmmakers’ association was formed at the end of November 2013. In their manifesto, they proclaim: “Our main task is to show the birth and first decisive steps of civil society because the latest events in the country primarily indicate the formation of a new civic consciousness among Ukrainians, centred on self-organisation, solidarity, and the defence of natural human rights.”
According to the documentarians, the generation of Ukrainians shaped during the period of independence was the driving force behind the formation of a new civil society. They saw documentary filmmaking as a way to spread ideas related to important social reforms and create a community of like-minded individuals.
From December 2013 to January 2014, members of Babylon’13 created dozens of short documentary videos, including The first moments of the assault on Kyiv city hall, the Battle on Hrushevskoho Street series, Brick by brick, and more. 2014 also saw the release of the first comprehensive artistic interpretation of the events, titled Euromaidan: Rough Cut. This work was based on materials from a whole group of documentarians: Volodymyr Tykhyi, Andrii Lytvynenko, Kateryna Hornostai, Roman Bondarchuk, Yuliia Hontaruk, Andriei Kisielov, Roman Liubyi, Oleksandr Techynskyi, Oleksii Solodunov, and Dmytro Stoikov.
The confrontation with Russia and the awakening of national consciousness created a demand for documentary interpretation. Films about the Revolution of Dignity emerged, such as Winter on Fire’ (2015) by Yevhen Afinieievskyi and the documentary series Winter, that has changed us by Babylon’13. There were also documentaries about the occupation of Crimea, including Whose Crimea? The Holiday of Annexation by Kseniia Marchenko and Crimea as It Was by Kostiantyn Kliatskin (2016).
During the initial stages of the Russo-Ukrainian War, documentarian Leonid Kanter filmed the critical documentary War at Our Own Expense. This work highlights the inadequate provisions for soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine (at the time, the director was fighting in its ranks). Later, Kanter made the film The Ukrainians (2015) about the members of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps and the defenders of Donetsk Airport. The filming of the defence lasted two weeks, and the film’s final phrase became famous: “People endured, it’s the concrete that didn’t.” In 2018, Kanter and his frequent co-director Ivan Yasniy created a documentary portrait of Vasyl Slipak in their film Myth. Slipak was a world-renowned opera singer and soloist of the Paris National Opera who left the grand stage and gave his life defending Ukraine.
As a result of prolonged military actions, the themes of documentary cinema have expanded. Films about volunteering in the ATO zone have emerged (Brothers in Arms‘ by Serhii Lysenko), as have sketches about life in the frontline areas (The Earth Is Blue as an Orange by Iryna Tsilyk, Terykony by Taras Tomenko, The Distant Barking of Dogs and A House Made of Splinters by Simon Lereng Wilmont) and stories about soldiers during and after their service (Company of Steel by Yuliia Hontaruk, War Note by Roman Liubyi).
Ukrainian documentary filmmaking today
More new thematic directions in Ukrainian documentary cinema have begun to emerge since the start of the full-scale invasion. In the Fortress Mariupol documentary series, director and co-founder of the Babylon’13 collective Yuliia Hontaruk focuses on the return of military personnel to civilian life, the rehabilitation of fighters from the Azov Brigade after captivity, and the consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Frame from a film in the Fortress Mariupol documentary series.
Co-founder of Babylon’13, director, and screenwriter Volodymyr Tykhyi crafted a duology where key events unfold over a single day in different regions of Ukraine with different protagonists. The two films are titled One Day in Ukraine‘ and Ukrainian Independence. As It Is’. Roman Liubyi experiments with form in his hybrid documentary Iron Butterflies, combining elements of live action and documentary to reflect on the experience of war. Kornii Hrytsiuk’s work explores and decolonises the history of eastern Ukraine, such as in the film Eurodonbas.
Poster for Kornii Hrytsiuk’s film Eurodonbas. Source: State Cinema Agency (Держкіно).
Documentaries depict the war in its various manifestations, from personal reflections to the experiences of entire cities, as seen in Mstyslav Chernov’s film 20 Days in Mariupol. Directors show the consequences of war through portraits of civilian victims in films such as Anastasiia Tykhа’s Our Robo Family, Dmytro Hreshko’s King Lear: How We Looked for Love During the War, and Alisa Kovalenko’s We Will Not Fade Away. Many directors also aim to connect the experiences of this new stage of the war with previous ones, such as the Antiterrorist Operation (ATO) or earlier Russian or Soviet hybrid operations.
These stories are often based on the artists’ personal experiences. For example, in A Picture To Remember, Olga Chernykh explores the power of memory and how it helps us cope with reality. Olga grew up in Donetsk in the 1990s, then moved with her parents to Kyiv. Her grandmother remained in Donetsk, and after the initial Russian occupation, the full-scale invasion only intensified Chernykh’s sense of distance between herself, her grandmother, and home in general. However, it was during this time that the director was able to create a new form of film, a project she began working on in 2019.
A Picture To Remember depicts how three generations of women perceive war. The film is based on video conversations between Olga, her mother, and her grandmother, as well as on photos and videos from her family archive. In 2023, it opened the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the world’s leading documentary film festival.
Frame from the film A Picture To Remember.
Olga believes that changes in the industry should come primarily from Derzhkino and the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy. In addition to greater popularisation of the genre, financial support should also be prioritised. Olga says that documentary filmmaking in Ukraine is currently a non-profit endeavour, mostly relying on state funding. However, she finds additional sources of support and continues to film.
“In reality, when you make films (both documentary and live action), it’s a form of therapy for yourself. On the one hand, it’s very traumatic because if you work with some kind of trauma, you re-traumatize yourself every time […]. But there is also a healing aspect. […] I love documentary filmmaking because of this empathy and love that is often present there. But I also don’t do enough of it, and it’s often lacking in our cinema. It doesn’t depend on countries, it depends on directors, on how they do it.”
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Join us next time for Part III!
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The 917th day of a ten year invasion that has been going on for centuries.
One day closer to victory.
🇺🇦 HEROYAM SLAVA! 🇺🇦
by Ukrainer_UA