Poland, Ukraine, United Kingdom | 2019 | Feature Film | 141’ | Original Version (English)

In 2022 and 2023, Ukraine will remember the 90th year of the Holodomor, the genocide of Ukrainians through starvation in the 1930s in the Soviet Union.

Why did the world learn about Holodomor so belatedly? How was it reported in the early 1930s?

The biographical thriller "Mr. Jones" starring James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, and Peter Saarsgard, tells the captivating story of Welsh journalist Gareth Jones. In 1933, Jones was the first to tell about the Holodomor in Ukraine through his reports for the international press.

You can find out more about the film on the website of the Ukrainian Institute in Germany. Also, follow their Instagram: the explainers on the historical and artistic context of Holodomor will be published here in the next few days.

Program

19:30 - Introduction with the Eastern Europe experts historian Dr. Franziska Davies and journalist Thomas Franke on the topic of "Responsible journalism"

Afterwards - the screening of the film "Mr. Jones" by Agnieszka Holland

The screening is organized by the Ukrainian Institute in Germany in cooperation with the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin and the Goethe-Institut to remember 90 years of the Holodomor in Ukraine.

Ukraine | 2020 | Documentary | 103’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

Andriy Suleiman fled with his family from his home in Syria to Ukraine, from one war zone to the next. One uncle makes it to Germany, another stays in Iraq, a third in Syria. The film unfolds from the eternal alternation of war and peace, traces sharp contours and lets them blur again.

Ukraine | 2022 | Feature Film | 105’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

There are many beautiful places to die. Luxembourg is not one of them. But beautiful or not, Luxembourg makes dying very expensive. When twin brothers hear that their long-absent father is sick in Luxembourg, they set out on a journey to see him one last time. Will the man they find be the bad-ass father they remember?

Ukraine | 2020 | Documentary Film | 77’

Every year, thousands of Ukrainian Christians undertake a pilgrimage to Zarvanytsia, a sacred place. Between prayers they share news, brag about their wealth, take pictures of chapels, give interviews, witness miracles. 

Ukraine | 1930 | Feature Film | 83’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

Avant-garde Earth, a recognized cinema masterpiece, was banned 9 days after release and glorified in Ukraine only after Dovzhenko’s death, bringing forth dozens of controversial interpretations. Full of lyrical pantheism and utopian exaltation, it demonstrated the ambiguity of Ukrainian geopolitical choice in the 1920s. The new soundtrack for Earth was created by Ukrainian ethno-chaos band DakhaBrakha, whose music shifts the emphasis from the film’s ideological connotations to universal ones.

The film is provided by Dovzhenko-center and will be introduced by Oleksii Isakov - a research assistant and Ph.D. candidate in the research project “Europäische Zeiten/European Times” (EUTIM) at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). His research focus lies in the field of Ukrainian Poetic Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s in the cultural and political context of the Thaw period.

Ukraine | 2022 | Documentary | 71’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

The story of Michel, a young German man whose dream is to live a simple life far from civilization. He lives in the Ukrainian mountains and takes care of endangered animals, water buffalo.

Ukraine | 2022 | Feature Film | 100’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

The story of a smuggler who values his family above all mesmerizes with aesthetically perfect sets, costumes, picturesque Carpathians and profound actors’ work.

Pamfir mesmerizes with aesthetically perfect sets, costumes, picturesque Carpathian valleys and profound actors’ work. The story of a smuggler who values his family above all embraces the elements of the Greek tragedy, westerns and ethnographic documentaries. At the same time, the drama of a geographically torn family and the struggle to be together is a matter millions of Ukrainians can relate to at the moment.

Ukrainian film festival Berlin in cooperation with Silent Green presents

Documentary “ADA” by Alina Matochkina about the love, creativity, and courage of two prominent Ukrainian artists, Ada Rybachuk and Volodymyr Melnichenko. They are the authors of the first Crematorium in Ukraine (The Park of Memory in Kyiv), the artistic design of the Kyiv Bus Station, the House of Creativity for Children and Youth, and many others, which you will discover in the film.

Ada and Volodymyr worked on their grand masterpiece the Park of Memory for a total of 13 years. However, in the spring of 1982, due to non-compliance with official canons, the heart of the project “The Wall of Memory” measuring 2,000 square meters was concreted over by the decision of Soviet bureaucrats.

The film was created over a period of 7.5 years, starting in 2013, and portrays a significant period of Volodymyr's life after he lost Ada. Despite the loss, he remained resilient and continued their shared struggle to preserve their artistry and keep Ada's memory alive.

We are honored to host the event in the former crematorium of Wedding and the first crematorium in Berlin built in 1912 converted in cultural space and event venue. The event will take place in the preserved 1600sqm concrete hall with its industrial charm Betonhalle. 

ADA, Alina Matochkina, Ukraine 2022, 92’

The love and courage of two genius Ukrainian artists, whose works have always been contrary to the system helped them to survive even after the destruction of their main work of life, which they had been building for 13 years. 

But can the struggle continue if only one of the two remains?

​​Performance “Table for Boichukists”, 30’

Performer - Mariia Mytrofanova, director - Alina Matochkina

One of the arguments for the destruction of Rybachuk and Melnichenko's Wall of Memory was the accusation of Boichukism, but at the time (1982) the authors had no idea who this was because the memory of these artists had been erased, just as the memory of Rybachuk and Melnichenko was later erased among the next generation of independent Ukrainian artists.

Boychukists were a group of prominent Ukrainian artists who were shot in 1937 in the Bykivnia forest, on the outskirts of Kyiv.

The live music accompanies the performance.

Ukraine | 2022 | Feature Film | 105’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

There are many beautiful places to die. Luxembourg is not one of them. But beautiful or not, Luxembourg makes dying very expensive. When twin brothers hear that their long-absent father is sick in Luxembourg, they set out on a journey to see him one last time. Will the man they find be the bad-ass father they remember?

Ukraine | 2022 | Feature Film | 105’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

There are many beautiful places to die. Luxembourg is not one of them. But beautiful or not, Luxembourg makes dying very expensive. When twin brothers hear that their long-absent father is sick in Luxembourg, they set out on a journey to see him one last time. Will the man they find be the bad-ass father they remember?

Ukraine | 2022 | Feature Film | 105’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

There are many beautiful places to die. Luxembourg is not one of them. But beautiful or not, Luxembourg makes dying very expensive. When twin brothers hear that their long-absent father is sick in Luxembourg, they set out on a journey to see him one last time. Will the man they find be the bad-ass father they remember?

Ukraine | 2022 | Feature Film | 105’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

There are many beautiful places to die. Luxembourg is not one of them. But beautiful or not, Luxembourg makes dying very expensive. When twin brothers hear that their long-absent father is sick in Luxembourg, they set out on a journey to see him one last time. Will the man they find be the bad-ass father they remember?

Ukraine | 2023 | Animation | 90’ | Original Version with German Subtitles

Since time immemorial, the vast Ukrainian forests have harbored countless secrets and unfathomable mysteries. They are home to wondrous mythical creatures dwelling among ancient trees, faithfully guarding their sacred realm.
Mavka is a Soul of the Forest and its newly chosen Guardian. Her primary mission is to protect the Forest and its sacrosanct Heart — the Source of Life itself — against any aggression or intrusion, including on the part of humans.
Lucas is an unassuming village boy, who has a great love of music and pours his talent into playing his wooden flute and dreams of devoting his life to this passion of his. And Lucas’s music does help bring about something truly remarkable: Mavka and Lucas meet and fall in love. From the start, their union is pitted against formidable odds, but the obstacles loom even larger once the avaricious Kylina arrives on the scene claiming she’s an heiress to an old sawmill at the edge of the Forest and promising the villagers all the riches of the industrial progress she brought around from abroad. This serves as a façade to mask her true purpose: to get a hold of the Heart of the Forest (with the selfish purpose to stay young and beautiful forever) — the key to which is Mavka herself, who is already rendered vulnerable by her blossoming feelings for Lucas. To get to Mavka, Kylina wields Lucas as her weapon and strikes anger and fear into the hearts of the villagers.
Will Mavka be able to save the forest? Will Lucas’s music be able to make miracles and save the love? Will the two worlds be able to unite against evil?

Ukraine | 2022 | Documentary | 66’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

By the time the Russian army retreated from Bucha, Borodyanka, and Irpin, houses were destroyed, civilians executed, and lives ruined. From the moment when they emerge from their shelters over the course of many weeks, the film follows various residents as they pick themselves up from the smoldering ruins. The dead are identified, debris is cleared, and prosecutors start talking about a war tribunal. But as the first blossoms of spring start appearing, these Ukrainians also reveal their resilience. The human spirit overcomes war and death.

In April 2022 Bucha and all the Kyiv region, occupied by the russian army, was liberated.
And immediately the world was terrified by the news that russia committed the war crimes in Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Makariv, Borodyanka and many more…
«Google Bucha» — we said to the world these days one year ago. More than 300 civil victims killed by russian army, exhumations, funerals and dead bodies lying on the street in Bucha.
If you ever have been to Kyiv, you should know that before the full-scale invasion Bucha was a pretty small town with parks and new buildings in Kyiv suburbs. In April 2022 Bucha became the synonym of murder and cruelty that has no explanation.
Soon after the liberation Ukrainian (and Berlin based) director Mila Teshaieva and German director and DOP Marcus Lenz went to Bucha to make a documentary about people who survived there, witnessed russian war crimes, volunteered and protected civilians as Ukrainian soldiers.
They made a documentary «When spring came to Bucha» which premiered at IDFA — the most prestigious festival of documentary films in the world — in November 2022.

The screening will be followed by Q&A with the directors Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz.

Ukraine | 2022 | Feature Film | 100’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

The story of a smuggler who values his family above all mesmerizes with aesthetically perfect sets, costumes, picturesque Carpathians and profound actors’ work.

Pamfir mesmerizes with aesthetically perfect sets, costumes, picturesque Carpathian valleys and profound actors’ work. The story of a smuggler who values his family above all embraces the elements of the Greek tragedy, westerns and ethnographic documentaries. At the same time, the drama of a geographically torn family and the struggle to be together is a matter millions of Ukrainians can relate to at the moment.

Ukraine | 2022 | Feature Film | 100’ | Original Version with English Subtitles

The story of a smuggler who values his family above all mesmerizes with aesthetically perfect sets, costumes, picturesque Carpathians and profound actors’ work.

Pamfir mesmerizes with aesthetically perfect sets, costumes, picturesque Carpathian valleys and profound actors’ work. The story of a smuggler who values his family above all embraces the elements of the Greek tragedy, westerns and ethnographic documentaries. At the same time, the drama of a geographically torn family and the struggle to be together is a matter millions of Ukrainians can relate to at the moment.

Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin invites you to the Germany premiere of the hosted by ACUDkino and IQ Production.

Ukraine | 2022 | Documentary | 75’

Hannusia puts the burden of farming in the Carpathian Mountains on herself after Dmytro, her husband of 30 years, losses his leg defending the independence of modern Ukraine. Their grandchildren of 6 and 3 years old help them too.

Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin invites you to the Germany premiere of the hosted by Deutsche Kinemathek.

Documentary | Ukraine | 2020 | 72’

Personal videos from the phones, camcorders, cameras, and GoPros of Ukrainian soldiers are woven into a surreal journey to the front line of the war with Russia. The film shows a bizarre world whose laws are quite different from what we are used to. The behavior is different, the relationships unfold differently, and the humor takes on different notes. The heroes wake up and fall asleep, rejoice and cry, always sensing that the recording may end at any moment.

Admission is free.

Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin invites you to the Germany premiere of the hosted by Deutsche Kinemathek.

Feature Film | Ukraine | 2019 | 104’

Young sound engineer Vadim gets a simple yet important task – to record the voices of Transcarpathian animals. This job could be his only chance to permanently leave the "uncomfortable" Ukraine and go to attractive Canada. But things turn out tough since the main companion in the new job will be a a very special person – Vadim's mother.

Admission is free.

Ukraine | 2018 | Feature Film | 108’

A series of odd coincidences has left Lukas, an interpreter for an OSCE military checkpoint inspection tour, stranded near a small southern Ukrainian steppe town. With nowhere to turn, this city boy finds shelter at the home of a colorful local named Vova. With Vova as his guide, Lukas is confronted by a universe beyond his imagination, one in which life seems utterly detached from any identifiable structure. Fascinated by his host and his host's daughter Marushka, with whom he is rapidly falling in love, Lukas’s contempt for provincial life slowly melts away and sets him on a quest for a happiness he had never known could exist.

Ukraine | 2018 | Feature Film | 70’

Lyuba works at a confectionery factory. Her son is in the war zone and there is no connection with him. Lyuba goes in search of his son in unfamiliar territory.

Ukraine | 2017 | Documentary | 89’

The documentary is part of the Invisible Battalion social project and is about six Ukrainian women who were combatants in the war in Donbas.

The screening is organized by our partner organization Ukrainian Signal.

Ukraine | 2019 | Feature Film | 106’

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

The film had its world premiere in the Horizons section of the International Film Festival Venice 2019 and was awarded the best film there.

Lithuania Germany France Ukraine | 2016 | Documentary | 96’

Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, at the mouth of the Kalmius into the Sea of ​​Azov. The city, centered on the steel mills, appears calm, but the approaching conflict between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian army is palpable everywhere. A theater company rehearsing a play for Victory Day on May 9th wishes the city not to be taken over for the premiere while they are devotedly rehearsing dance and singing scenes. The shoemaker's daughter practices as a war reporter in front of the camera while her father talks to his customers about his faith at work. And the anglers and fishermen hope, as always, for a good catch. Because even if detonations can be heard all around the city, life goes on, accompanied by the ringing of the bells of the Orthodox Church and the squeaking of the tram.

After the sensitive and moving film "Barzakh" (Panorama 2011), which describes the search for a man who has disappeared in Chechnya, director Mantas Kvedaravicius turns again to a conflict area and observes and accompanies the people there. Everyday life develops its own poetry, which occasionally appears absurd.

The event takes place as part of the cooperation with the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin and LITAUISCHES KINO GOES BERLIN.

Ukraine | 2018 | Documentary | 66’

Alina Gorlova accompanies her main heroine, who is going through a difficult rehabilitation process, with her camera. The normality of everyday life is constantly interrupted by traumatic memories from the front in eastern Ukraine. The film follows a strong woman on her way back to life and impressively shows how deeply war penetrates life. When the active phase of the war is over, its aftermath and long-lasting trauma will have to be dealt with.

The film series takes place in cooperation between the Media Library of the East European Institute at Freie Universität Berlin and the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin (UFFB). The series brings together three films (documentaries and feature films) by Ukrainian filmmakers that mark contemporary Ukrainian cinema in the context of the war with Russia that has been going on for eight years.

Lithuania Germany France Ukraine | 2016 | Documentary | 96’

Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, at the mouth of the Kalmius into the Sea of ​​Azov. The city, centered on the steel mills, appears calm, but the approaching conflict between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian army is palpable everywhere. A theater company rehearsing a play for Victory Day on May 9th wishes the city not to be taken over for the premiere while they are devotedly rehearsing dance and singing scenes. The shoemaker's daughter practices as a war reporter in front of the camera while her father talks to his customers about his faith at work. And the anglers and fishermen hope, as always, for a good catch. Because even if detonations can be heard all around the city, life goes on, accompanied by the ringing of the bells of the Orthodox Church and the squeaking of the tram.

After the sensitive and moving film "Barzakh" (Panorama 2011), which describes the search for a man who has disappeared in Chechnya, director Mantas Kvedaravicius turns again to a conflict area and observes and accompanies the people there. Everyday life develops its own poetry, which occasionally appears absurd.

The event takes place as part of the cooperation with the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin and LITAUISCHES KINO GOES BERLIN.

Ukraine | 2020 | Feature Film | 74’

To cope with the daily trauma of living in a war-zone, Anna and her children are making a film together about their life in the most surreal surroundings.

European premiere at the Berlinale 2020. Sundance Film Festival (World Cinema Documentary - Best Director Award 2020).

UKRAINE | 2021 | Feature Film | 122'

16-year-old Masha experiences her pregraduate year at a Kyiv school with her friends Yana and Senya. After she falls in love with her classmate Sasha it forces introverted and sensitive Masha to leave her comfort zone. An authentic and sensitive coming of age about Ukrainian youth.

Berlin International Film Festival (Crystal Bear Generation 14plus 2021), Fünf Seen Film Festival (Best film award 2021), Odessa International Film Festival (Best Feature Film 2021).