Save the date:
6th Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin
from 22nd to 26th Oct., 2025
The 6th Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin opens on October 22, 2025 at Silent Green Kulturquartier with the Venice-premiered documentary “Songs of Slow Burning Earth” (2024) by Ukrainian filmmaker Olha Zhurba.
The film is an essayistic diary of landscapes, conversations, and sounds, recorded at places at varying distances from the frontline – from a bakery in embattled Mykolaiv to a rehabilitation center in quieter Lviv. Through subtle and fragmentary observations, it portrays a society where war has become part of everyday life, while still engaging in a persistent, quiet dialogue about the possibility of a future and humanity.
After the screening, a Q&A with producer Darya Bassel will take place.
In addition to the film screening, Ukrainian avant-pop artist DONBASGRL will perform. Her sound is characterized by deep bass and elements of Ukrainian folklore. Having grown up in a small industrial town in eastern Ukraine, she has been living in Germany for ten years and collaborates with music producer Jakohitsdifferent.
Songs of Slow Burning Earth (2024) | Olha Zhurba | Documentary
Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, France | 95 min.
The full programme of the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin 2025 will be published in early September.
Save the date:
6th Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin
from 22nd to 26th Oct., 2025
The 6th Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin opens on October 22, 2025 at Silent Green Kulturquartier with the Venice-premiered documentary “Songs of Slow Burning Earth” (2024) by Ukrainian filmmaker Olha Zhurba.
The film is an essayistic diary of landscapes, conversations, and sounds, recorded at places at varying distances from the frontline – from a bakery in embattled Mykolaiv to a rehabilitation center in quieter Lviv. Through subtle and fragmentary observations, it portrays a society where war has become part of everyday life, while still engaging in a persistent, quiet dialogue about the possibility of a future and humanity.
After the screening, a Q&A with producer Darya Bassel will take place.
In addition to the film screening, Ukrainian avant-pop artist DONBASGRL will perform. Her sound is characterized by deep bass and elements of Ukrainian folklore. Having grown up in a small industrial town in eastern Ukraine, she has been living in Germany for ten years and collaborates with music producer Jakohitsdifferent.
Songs of Slow Burning Earth (2024) | Olha Zhurba | Documentary
Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, France | 95 min.
TICKETS
The full programme of the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin 2025 will be published in early September.
German premiere:
U ARE THE UNIVERSE: Ukraine/Belgium 2024
U ARE THE UNIVERSE: Ukraine/Belgium 2024
09.09.2025, 20:00
CineStar Kino in der Kulturbrauerei
Schönhauser Allee 36
10435 Berlin
Film screening with the film team and guests, followed by a Q&A
Feature film
Ukraine/Belgium 2024
TICKETS
Written and directed by Pavlo Ostrikov
Starring Volodymyr Kravtschuk, Leonid Popadko & Alexia Depicker
Ukrainian/French with English subtitles (OmeU)
After the destruction of Earth, space trucker Andriy Melnyk is the last human in the universe—until he suddenly receives a radio signal from a French astronaut named Catherine, who is also stranded alone on a distant space station. Determined to find her, he sets off on a dangerous journey.
With deep emotion and dark humor, this Ukrainian response to existential sci-fi films like 2001, Solaris, Dark Star, and Moon explores timeless themes: mortality, loneliness, longing, and a universal need for human connection—even brightening the film’s nihilistic final note.
Presended by Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin
in cooperation with the film distributor Drop-Out Cinema
Short Film Competition Jury 2025
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Darya Bassel
Darya Bassel has a background in TV and commercial production. In 2011, she joined Docudays UA IHRDFF, initially as a programmer and later as head of the industry platform. She became a producer in 2013 and has participated in Eurodoc, Ex Oriente, and EAVE. She has also served as a jury member at several festivals, including Visions du Réel, IDFA, and Krakow IFF.
Notable titles she has produced include OUTSIDE (2022), which premiered at CPH:DOX and screened at over 20 festivals; the drama BUTTERFLY VISION (2022), which debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes; and the satirical drama THE EDITORIAL OFFICE (2024), which premiered at Berlinale. Her latest title, SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH, directed by Olha Zhurba, premiered in Venice in 2024 and received multiple awards.
She is a co-producer of the highly acclaimed documentary INTERCEPTED (dir. Oksana Karpovych) and the Oscar-nominated documentary A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS (dir. Simon Lereng Walmont).
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Nir Ferber
Nir Ferber is a lecturer for film theory and holds a PhD in film studies. Alongside his academic work, he is a senior member of the programming committee at Docaviv – the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival and a member of the curating collective of the Jewish Film Festival Berlin-Brandenburg.
Short Film Competition 2024 Award
Statement of the international jury of the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin:
„We, the Jury, were impressed by the strong short film competition of this year's Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin. The different formats in the selection gave us the opportunity to experience very different perspectives. The award goes to a film which is at the same time casual and touching. The communication between the generations is told in an open and honest way, as is the dialogue with the camera. The strength the young protagonist recognizes in her grand mother's life experience suggests the proclamatic title. The Award for the Best Short film and the D-Facto Motion Award with a value of 7.000€ Postproduction services in-kind goes to…
"Boots on the Ground, Hands in the Soil" by Karolina Uskakovych
27.10.2024
"Boots on the Ground, Hands in the Soil"
by Karolina Uskakovych
(Ukraine/United Kingdom/Netherlands, 2023)