7 Docs About Ukrainian Cities

7 Docs About Ukrainian Cities

459 cities and towns can be found on the map of Ukraine but very few of them are reflected in the culture and films.  ‘Festival 86’ had launched a competition ‘MyStreetFilmsUkraine’ in order to introduce the city atmosphere, characters and streets to the Ukrainian and foreign audience.

‘Our competitors have forced us to remember Bershad’, Kramators’k, Novoyavorivs’k’, – says the curator of the festival Nadiya Parfan. – ‘Their cameras also have peeked into romantic, even abandoned, Kyiv racetrack and miraculously survived village on Poznyaky. In their stories we have met whiskered sellers of Petrivka book market and walked with a young father in Rusanivka.”

Right after the presentation of the best spots in Ukraine, the films have been shown in festivals abroad: UK, Germany, USA, Hungary, Spain, Czech Republic, Poland and Russia.

This year the festival has announced the second competition ‘MyStreetFilmsUkraine’ with a purpose to find new stories about Ukrainian cities, places, local and urban heroes.

We offer to take a look at the list of 7 best shorts directed by the last year’s participants of ‘MyStreetFilmsUkraine’ competition.

My Crystal. Directed by Oksana Kazmina

Oksana and Sasha used to have so much in common in their native town Novoyavorivsk but they have parted. So, is it possible that the best friends, the hometown and the first love become alienated?

[youtube width=”640px”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb1j58KIyVU&list=PLxhyDblqTqmKHnpKHV4lhZzKQwVJvgOc1#action=share[/youtube]

In the East. Directed by Piotr Armyanovskyy

Kramators’k is the city with huge factories, polluted air and broken roads. ‘There is all I don’t like in my native Donets’k, but what I currently miss,’ – says the director about the film idea.

[youtube width=”640px”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Xd-wVZfy0&index=3&list=PLxhyDblqTqmKHnpKHV4lhZzKQwVJvgOc1[/youtube]

I am on a playground. Directed by Paul Hranek

Rusanivka is a Kyiv district which is inhabited by kids, dogs, elders and fishermen. The film shows the irony of human life, which is squeezed between playground and pet’s cemetery.

[youtube width=”640px”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvF_0bK4Dw4&index=5&list=PLxhyDblqTqmKHnpKHV4lhZzKQwVJvgOc1[/youtube]

Among the house. Directed by Oksana Nosach

The city entered the village… Or maybe the village happened to the city? The film directed by Oksana Nosach tells about the absurdity of the two worlds coexisting in one space.

[youtube width=”640px”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYM68qNoW0o&list=PLxhyDblqTqmKHnpKHV4lhZzKQwVJvgOc1&index=4[/youtube]

First Comes Revenge.  Directed by Daryna Nikolenko

Kyiv racetrack is a typical post-socialistic place which has been gradually degrading after the Soviet Union fall. The only thing that keeps it alive is people’s dedication to do their job.

[youtube width=”640px”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzwbesgLVd4&index=6&list=PLxhyDblqTqmKHnpKHV4lhZzKQwVJvgOc1[/youtube]

 Immersion. Directed by Alexander Zyryanov

The main hero of the film is time in a provincial town. It is counted not in minutes, hours or days, but in events.

[youtube width=”640px”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YdG7g9GTxc&list=PLxhyDblqTqmKHnpKHV4lhZzKQwVJvgOc1&index=7[/youtube]

Tsvitayeva and Mayakovs’ky. Episode 1. Directed by Pauline Moshens’ka & MarYna Lyapina

The film shows the everyday life of two streets in the residential district of Kyiv named after those two poets.

[youtube width=”640px”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F8Rjv82Bx4&list=PLxhyDblqTqmKHnpKHV4lhZzKQwVJvgOc1&index=1[/youtube]

More information about the competition is at the festival’s website: http://86.org.ua