SEE UKRAINE
DOCUMENTARY FILMS

1
UKRAINE, 2014, 62 MIN
The Cacophony of Donbas
Director Igor Minaiev
A contemplative film whose idea is to explore the creation of the myth about the Donbas by using archive footage from documentary and feature films. The film's plot develops along two planes. The first is life through the eyes of Soviet propaganda and the Donbas as a showcase of ideology. The second is real life, hidden from unwelcome eyes. The film uses archive footage and recordings of interviews with former Donbas residents who witnessed Ru ian aggression and became its victims. Life promised to become a symphony of work, joy and welfare, but turned out to be a delusion and a manipulation. Now there are no illusions left. The symphony of the Donbas has turned into a cacophony of the Donbas.
Igor Minaiev
Film and theater director and a screenwriter. He studied in the Cinema Department of the Karpenko-Kary Institute of Theater and Cinema in Kyiv between 1972 and 1977, and earned a degree in Film Directing. Selected filmography: A Cold March (1988), The First Floor (1990), The Underground Temple of Communism (1991), Far Away From Sunset Boulevard (2006), The Blue Dress (2015).

2
Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, 2016, 60 min

Dixie Land
Director Roman Bondarchuk
Waves of the Black Sea are crashing against the pier, sun is shining and the sky is blue. "Dixieland" children's orchestra is playing a march. Their master is listening. Seems that the happiness will last forever. But growing up is inevitable. Suddenly it turns out that the teacher is mortal, and your friend has their own plans for life. Medals and orchestral instruments are glittering in the sun, but every child has their personal destiny - with music or without it.
Roman Bondarchuk
Graduated from the Kyiv National Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Film, and Television University. His teacher was Yuriy Illenko, one of the founders of the school of Ukrainian Poetic Cinema. Roman has created a number of short films, documentaries, and music videos. He has written several pieces of fiction, and has participated in photography and contemporary art exhibitions. As a documentary director, he has collaborated with MDR, ZDF, Arte, and other TV channels. In 2015 he finished his first feature-length documentary, Ukrainian Sheriffs.

3
Ukraine, France, Poland 2018, 86 min
Home Games
Director Alisa Kovalenko
A season in the life of Alina, a poor 20-year-old girl from Kyiv who has a chance to be saved by football. She's about to join the Ukrainian national team, but life challenges her once again: her mother dies leaving two young siblings. Now, Alina must choose: football or family.
Alisa Kovalenko
Born in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, in 1987. She first studied journalism and then graduated from the Karpenko-Kary theatre & cinema university of Kyiv, specializing in documentary cinema. Alisa also studied at the Andrzej-Wajda cinema school in Warsaw. A second full-length documentary Alisa in Warland premiered in the First Appearance Competition at IDFA in Amsterdam in 2015. So far, it has has screened in over 60 festivals worldwide. Her most recent film Home Games got a prize at Odesa IFF 2018.



4
Ukraine, 2018, 64 min
No Obvious Signs
Director Alina Gorlova
What is left backstage from the heroic videos of our warriors in Ukraine? What do they have to face, one on one, in peacetime, and where does the war stop? This is the story of a woman who returns from war. Talking to psychologists, battling her PTSD and panic attacks, she tries hard to get back to normal life. The documentary shows her path from the beginning of her rehabilitation until she goes back to work.
Alina Gorlova
Director and film editor. Born and lives in Ukraine. She graduated from the Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University of Theatre, Film and TV. She directs documentaries but also experienced in making fiction shorts, social and commercial ads. In 2016 Alina present her first feature-length documentary Kholodny Yar. Intro. Short version (60 minutes) of the film was presented at the Odesa IFF (Ukraine) and Artdocfest (Moscow, Russia).

5
Ukraine, France, 2018, 71 min
Woman in War
Directors: Masha Kondakova


When war came to their home, thousands of Ukrainian women took it upon themselves to become soldiers and lay their lives on the line for peace and freedom in their country. This feature documentary follows three of those women and the lives they never expected to lead.
Masha Kondakova
A writer and director born in Kyiv, currently living in Paris. In 2012 she graduated from the Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University of Theatre, Film and TV. During her studies, she played the main role in a TV series and worked as an assistant director on numerous commercials, short and feature films. Lystopad is her first short film, and has been shown at over 50 international film festivals, including Locarno and Clermont-Ferrand; the film has won 14 awards and has been acquired by Canal+.
Oleksandr Stekolenko
Ukrainian filmmaker, who directs feature films, advertisements, fashion clips and music videos. He worked as a director on national TV, mainly on channels like Novyi Kanal, STB and 1+1. He became famous as a director of music videos. In 1997 he began to film advertisements for Ukrainian and international brands, and has now directed more than 500 commercials. He is currently living and working in Kyiv, Ukraine.

6
Ukraine, Germany, 2017, 81 min
Delta
Directors: Oleksandr Techynskyi

Special Mention at DOKLeipzig
The white winter blizzard covers everything. Now we can only rely on the saints, on our prayers. The future has sailed away, with us left behind. Lost, we did not board the magic ship. The task at hand is simple - not to perish in the fog, not to die from the cold, not to get trapped under the ice. Not to fall in our own traps. Or are we all in one big trap anyway? Running around in a small circle, counting those who vanished.
Oleksandr Techynskyi
Was born in 1979 in Dnipro, Ukraine. He spent his childhood in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic in the north-east of the Russian Federation. In 1999 he graduated from Dnipropetrovsk Medical College, then worked as a medical assistant in a psychiatric emergency team. In 2001 he left medicine and started to work as a freelance photographer. He has worked as a photo reporter for more than 15 years, cooperating with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Spiegel, Vogue, Playboy, and others. Besides Ukraine, he has carried out shootings in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Liberia, Georgia, Russia and Latvia. Since 2011 he has focused on creating documentary films. His feature documentary debut All Things Ablaze has won an MDR Film Prize for the best Eastern European documentary at DOK Leipzig 2014.