For more than a year and a half, Ukraine has been in the headlines because of the war. But Ukraine is more than its fight against Russia – it is also a nation of talented people and culture.
UkraineWorld spoke with Ukrainian film producer Nadia Parfan about the film industry in Ukraine, its struggles, inspirations, and masterpieces. Learn more about must-watch Ukrainian movies in the second part of our analysis.
Ukrainian classics are the first thing worth attention. This includes 20th-century cinema. Ukraine has a long and rich cinematic tradition. In the 1920s, Ukrainian films produced by the Odesa film studio were commissioned or sold to Hollywood and all over the world.
Earth by Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The movie has a restored version with a soundtrack by Daha Braha, a famous Ukrainian ethno-house band. It’s a perfect sound for an originally silent movie.
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Serhiy Parajanov. Serhiy Parajanov is an Armenian born in Georgia, Tbilisi, but is Ukrainian in his heart. He has a very interesting identity.
This identity is very important now, especially in terms of emphasizing that Ukrainians are a political nation, and it’s a political choice that we all make to be Ukrainians. It doesn’t matter who you are ethnically. Serhiy Parajanov made this choice.
Parajanov is a founding father of a style called Ukrainian poetic cinema. And this is a landmark film he made.
Another film is Hunt for the Cossack Gold by Vadym Kastelli. It is a forgotten classic from the 1990s rediscovered recently. It’s a comedy about a modern-day person who inherited treasures from Cossack times, turning him into a millionaire. But then British intelligence gets involved. It’s a very funny, ironic film.
Another classical comedy about Cossacks is The Lost Letter. It’s rooted in traditional Ukrainian culture and humor with a lot of music and jokes.
My Thoughts Are Silent and Luxembourg Luxembourg by Antonio Lukich are two tragicomedies definitely worth watching. Another one is Stop-Zemlia by Kateryna Hornostay, a teenage drama that won a Silver Bear at the Berlinale film festival.
Bad Roads by Nataliia Vorozhbyt is a collection of short stories that Nataliia wrote and directed. The film is her directorial debut. She’s a very famous playwright whose plays have been staged in the UK and in many theaters across the world.
She shows mastery of deep psychological dialogues and talks about the existential dimension of war and what it does to humankind. Some of her novels are very tough and dramatic, while others are funny.
I Work at the Cemetery by Oleksii Taranenko. A tragicomedy, which is a favorite Ukrainian genre. It has good humor, and a strong script, but it’s also a very nice portrait of Kyiv. You can get to know Kyiv, the capital of freedom and the capital of democracy in the modern world.
The Living Fire by Ostap Kostyuk, who also joined the army and who is a defender now. This remarkable Ukrainian documentary is about shepherds who have lived in the Carpathian mountains, work with sheep, and sustained authentic mountain traditions for generations.
The War Note by Roman Liubyi. This film is about the previous stage of the war that started in 2014. It’s a very special film created from cell phone footage shot by the soldiers themselves. Roman took this footage and edited it into a film.
It’s very funny and very tragic at the same time. He shows what it means to be at war, and what kind of civilization war creates in the 21st century.
Enter Through the Balcony by Roman Blazhan. A short film famous both in Ukraine and abroad. It’s a very sweet, warm, and ironic exploration of Ukrainian balconies and urban life.
It’s an architecture film that talks about how Ukrainians reinvent their balconies. And through talking about something as trivial as a balcony, you come to understand modern Ukrainian city life and our civilization.
Heat Singers by Nadia Parfan. This is a music documentary that talks about the municipal service workers, who sustain our life. During wartime, this work has become a sort of everyday heroism that is normally invisible.
We notice when something is not working properly, but when everything’s fine, we just take it for granted. In this film, we understand the other side.
It is especially valuable now, in wartime, because when you live in a Ukrainian city that is being bombed, you see how the sites of strikes, and damage, and ruins are miraculously transformed back to normal within one or two days by the municipal workers.
They are real heroes of our time.
Most of these films are available on Takflix, the Ukrainian streaming platform, with English subtitles.
