Search Results for "ukraine"

A critical and objective look back at Ukraine's tumultuous and tragic history, from its mythical founding in the 10th century to the Russian invasion in 2022.

The film tells the story of Ivan Mazeppa, a Ukrainian page at the Polish court who has an affair with the young wife of a much older count. Outraged when he learns of the incident, the nobleman has Mazeppa tied naked to a wild horse which is then released into the wilderness. The bulk of the poem describes the long hazardous journey during which Mazeppa almost dies twice but ultimately survives and returns to his native Ukraine.

The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is not only waged with bombs, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, but also in the media. It is a "propaganda battle" internally and externally. Russia spreads targeted disinformation in order to systematically devalue news. At the same time, their own population should be convinced that they want to liberate Ukraine from Nazis. Ukraine's narrative wants to emotionally mobilize its own population and strengthen resistance to the aggressor. Spindoctors are of particular importance in the propaganda battle over Ukraine. On the Ukrainian side, it's often influencers like Oleksiy Arestovych. On the Russian side, Vladimir Solovyov, Putin's snout, is supposed to sell the war to his own people with his daily TV talks. The documentary shows the new front lines of virtual warfare and provides insights into the populists' bag of tricks on social networks.

Close to the ground, from the front line to the civil resistance, Bernard-Henri Lévy films the war in Ukraine and urges Europe to act. A poignant immersion that sounds like a call for help, in the name of democracy.

Since 24 February 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, several million refugees have already been taken in by Poles. In the Lublin region, near the Bug River, which marks the border with Ukraine and Belarus, farmers, shopkeepers, a photographer, and a teacher tell how their daily lives have been transformed by the outbreak of this war.

Between 1931 and 1933, 4 million Ukrainians were to die of hunger. This famine was not preceded by any cataclysmic weather event, nor by a war. This was an ideological crime: decided by Stalin and approved by the Politburo, with the aim of punishing Ukrainian peasants who refused the collectivization of the countryside, cultivated a strong form of nationalism and showed resistance to communist ideology. Drawing on previously unpublished material, on many Soviet films and on a number of particular points of view, including that of Welsh journalist and whistleblower Gareth Jones, this film retraces the story of that famine.

A story from the very center of events about the birth of a new country, the Donetsk People's Republic. Filming took place over six weeks from April to May 2014. The camera follows 300 revolutionaries who took over the building of the Regional State Administration in the center of Donetsk and declared the independence of the region. The revolutionaries see themselves as the saviors of their people from the bloodthirsty fascist government based in Kyiv. This is a story about how to make a revolution and what happens after that when you get the power. The heroes of the film are Andrei ("Lenin"), who leaves home and mother to change history; the speaker of the new government, Vladimir, and the head of the internal anti-corruption security service, whose task is to capture and interrogate traitors, fascists and enemies of the Revolution. When the heroes believed they had won, their fates abruptly changed course.

The ballet of the National Opera of Ukraine stands for ballet artistry at the highest level. The company has become a cultural ambassador for Ukraine. The ensemble presents this unique, daring performance at the National Opera in Kyiv. The centerpiece of the evening is Wartime Elegy by Alexei Ratmansky, one of the most important choreographers of our time.

When an Indian student falls in love with a Ukrainian girl who has been promised to be married to a Mafia family, their innocent one-night stand turns into an epic chase of mayhem and retribution.

An outlook on Wilhelm von Habsburg, an aristocrat who wanted to become the King of Ukraine and thus became an early fighter for the independence of Ukraine after World War 1.

Veteran war reporter John Sweeney and Byline TV filmmaker Caolan Robertson hit the road with war photographer Paul Conroy and journalist Zarina Zabrisky to gather compelling evidence for the use of illegal weapons and the torture of civilians in Ukraine, as well as examining the reality of life and conditions faced by ordinary people on Ukraine's eastern front.

How, since the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, following three months of popular revolt, has Ukraine managed its difficult transition? Between civil war and the need for drastic reforms, a balance tinged with hope, whose stakes are crucial for Europe.

Dwarfs appeared in Poland in the 80s, painting over opposition slogans with their images. They organized happenings under “There is no freedom without dwarves,” contributing to the fall of communism. During Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, Polish dwarves supported it by traveling to Kyiv in an orange bus, bringing chocolate heads of candidates, orange ribbons, and a 15-meter scarf, which they draped around the election winner.

The film journeys deep into the heartland of Ukraine’s rebel insurgency to cast a light on this surreal and fascinating phenomenon. The members of the Night Wolves, Russia’s largest and most notorious biker gang, fiercely loyal to Vladimir Putin and boasting diehard chapters across the former USSR, took up arms in 2014 and joined the Moscow-backed separatists; now, inside their extraordinary base, the men open up about the families they left behind. Against the backdrop of a fragile ceasefire, what does the resurgence of these paramilitary petrol-heads mean for a war-weary Ukraine and Russia’s ever-deteriorating relationship with the West?

The documentary narrates the events experienced in Ukraine (April 17-May 22, 2022), both in the field of humanitarian volunteering in the rear, and in the vanguard, on the war front line. It also shows the movement of displaced persons (IDP's) and the life of the civilian population in the bombed places, with interviews with soldiers, volunteers and civilians; from the devastated places in the north of Kyiv, passing through Kharkiv, the Donbas region or the Kherson front with Mykolaiv, and then ending in the self-proclaimed and pro-Russian Republic of Transnistria (Moldova), bordering Ukraine.

My grandmother was forced to leave her birthplace at the age of three. She never had the opportunity to return. My uncle and I decided to set off in search of this town. We even found the old Mill building that my great-great grandparents lived in.

Camila Cabello, Ed Sheeran, Emeli Sandé and Gregory Porter are among the artists performing at this DEC Appeal fundraiser, hosted by Emma Bunton, Marvin Humes and Roman Kemp.

Three difficult month of Maidan! Ukrainian people united together at Kiev's historic square called Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) came out to voice theire feelings and emotions against the Yanukovich regime. Lots of souls were lost, lots of destinies were changed! So much still to come... Ukrainian Revolution of dignity.

When Russia invaded in February 2022. Japanese director Akane Yamada travelled to the war zone to document an often-overlooked story - the fate of animals and the people who refuse to abandon them. Known for her work in disaster zones since Fukushima, Yamada witnessed animal welfare groups mobilising at the Polish border to help refugees and their pets, and followed Ukrainians who continued to adopt shelter animals amid the chaos. In Borodianka, near Kyiv, she uncovered the tragic deaths of shelter dogs left behind during occupation. Her three-year investigation led her deep into Ukraine's frontline regions, from flooded Kherson after the Kahkovka Dam's destruction to a children's hospital in Kyiv struck by a missile. Through the stories of people who refuse to abandon animals even amid the devastation of war, this documentary portrays the resilience and dignity of those who refuse to surrender to violence.

A short documentary about the city of Kremenets.

Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

Between personal obligations and training for his next big fight against an opponent with ties to his family's past, Adonis Creed is up against the challenge of his life.

Mykola is an eccentric pacifist who wants to be useful to humanity. When the war begins in Donbas, Mykola’s naive world is collapsing as the militants kill his pregnant wife and burn his home to the ground. Recovered, he makes a cardinal decision and gets enlisted in a sniper company. Having met his wife’s killers, he emotionally breaks down and arranges “sniper terror” for the enemy.

As Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, primary schools across Russia’s hinterlands are transformed into recruitment stages for the war. Facing the ethical dilemma of working in a system defined by propaganda and violence, a brave teacher goes undercover to film what’s really happening in his own school.

In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset by obstacles – from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog.

For years, Andrei Evilenko eluded the obsessive Detective Lesiev and the psychiatric profiler Aron Richter. Spurred on by his rabid fury at the gradual crumbling of his precious Soviet Union, Evilenko is a man who will live, die and kill as a communist.

As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.

In 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones travels to Ukraine, where he experiences the horrors of a famine. Everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out. Stalin’s forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin—the policy is tantamount to mass murder.

Enzo, 16, defies his bourgeois family’s expectations by starting a masonry apprenticeship, a path far removed from the prestigious life they had envisioned for him. In their chic villa in the sun-drenched South of France, tensions simmer as relentless questions and pressures weigh on Enzo’s future and dreams. On the construction sites, however, Vlad, a charismatic Ukrainian colleague, shakes up Enzo’s world and opens the door to unexpected possibilities.

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

Ukraine, 16th century. While the Poles dominate the Cossack steppes, Andrei, son of Taras Bulba, a Cossack leader, must choose between his love for his family and his folk and his passion for a Polish woman.

Set between the two World Wars and based on true historical events, Bitter Harvest conveys the untold story of the Holodomor, the genocidal famine engineered by the tyrant Joseph Stalin. The film displays a powerful tale of love, honour, rebellion and survival at a time when Ukraine was forced to adjust to the horrifying territorial ambitions of the burgeoning Soviet Union.

A Ukrainian village must suddenly contend with the Nazi invasion of June 1941. Later re-edited and released as "Armored Attack."

A young Jewish American man endeavors—with the help of eccentric, distant relatives—to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II—in a Ukrainian village which was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.

Witnesses, survivors and front-line heroes recall the first days of the Chernobyl disaster of April 1986. Featuring rare archive footage of the world's worst ever nuclear accident.

Animals in War is a poignant anthology film inspired by true stories of animals impacted by the war in Ukraine. A collaboration between Ukrainian and international artists — including actor and activist Sean Penn — the film is a haunting yet captivating call for global awareness and empathy.

February 23, 2022, a small town near Kyiv. Taras (35) and Olia (32) spend the first night in their new apartment. At dawn, they wake up from the explosions. They fail to leave the town on time, meanwhile, the Russian troops arrange headquarters in their building. The couple finds themselves trapped in their flat with no electricity, water, and mobile connection. For the next 5 days, Taras and Olia will explore the black abyss of real intimacy between two people and face crucial existential questions in mortal danger.

Set in tsarist Russia around the turn of the century and based on a true story of a Russian Jewish peasant Yakov Bog who was wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime - the “ritual murder” of a Gentile child in Kyiv. We witness the unrelenting detail of the peasant handyman's life in prison and see him gain in dignity as the efforts to humiliate him and make him confess fail.

Checkpoint Zoo documents a daring rescue led by a heroic team of zookeepers and volunteers, who risked their lives to save thousands of animals trapped in a zoo behind enemy lines in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

In 2008, Natasha, a newly rich woman, decides to open an independent TV station in Russia and builds an open-minded team of outcasts. By 2020, Natasha has lost everything to Russia's war between Propaganda and Truth.

Pensioner Halyna has been having memory problems due to Alzheimer's disease for the last few years. That is why her son Alexander shows excessive care and forbids his mother to leave the house. She has long since come to terms with home isolation, but once a year she just needs to leave the house. And this day is a meeting of classmates, where Halyna hopes to meet her school love. Her son tries to prevent this, because every time there are some problems with the old woman. The ingenious pensioner goes to various tricks to get to school in the evening in any way. She expects to meet there with her school love Gennady, who ignored all the previous 60 meetings of classmates. But Halyna is sure that this time the love, endured for decades, will still visit the annual event.

No description available for this movie.

Tasked with laying off the employees of his father’s company during a work party, an inept man tries to lessen the blow in a misguided effort.

Documentary about Ukrainian heroes and others who keep making music in the harshest conditions, to lift people's spirits during the war with Russia. Shot on location in Ukraine, Russia, and Poland.

Kairzhan buys an ordinary dagger but presents it as a family heirloom to a highly respected person.

No description available for this movie.

Mavka, a Soul of the Forest, faces an impossible choice between love and her duty as Guardian of the Heart of the Forest when she falls for a human, a talented young musician named Lukas.

Mavka, a water nymph, loves Lukash, a country youth. Their brief happiness ends when Lukash is forced to marry the shrewish Kilina. The Spirit of the Forest turns Lukash into a wolf as punishment for his infidelity. The strength of Mavka's love breaks the spell, but Kilina curses the nymph, transforming her into a weeping willow. This beautiful and tragic story is based on a play written in 1912 by Lesya Ukrainka, a Ukrainian poet, writer and political, civil and female activist, and includes mythological characters taken from Ukrainian folklore.

A young couple on the river bank leaf through Lesya Ukrainka's book "Forest Song". Reading takes the young people to Polesia, where the drama takes place.

The mouflon, wild sheep with beautiful curved antlers, were brought to the island as an attraction. Nevertheless, they should not be admired but killed – to add variety to the pursuit of game or control the species numbers on the island. One animal becomes separated from the herd – will it manage to survive? Based on real events, the animation combines the symbolic images of the animal’s escape with the drastic photographs documenting the harm done to the species in Tenerife. The atmosphere of fear and anxiety is achieved by means of pulsating music and black and white colours.

An animated documentary about the space being occupied by religion in the Universe.

A friendship between Kookoo Rikoo, the only Arab Christian Israeli clown, and a war survivor, a Syrian girl.

When Serhiy asks his girlfriend to marry him, he is met with a sound rebuff and an unflattering critique of his poor performance in bed. Broken-hearted and with his world almost falling apart, Serhiy takes a macho decision to spend the New Year holiday with his friend, Vasyl in Prague. After a fairly dismal night in a strip club, Serhiy meets striptease dancer, Diana, who offers to show him the way to become a sex super hero. But his ex-girlfriend seems to be standing in the way of realising his dream. We follow Serhiy's further hot - and ever hotter - adventures in Prague.

Leva, a kind-hearted young poet, lives and works at a construction site on the outskirts of a city. He dreams of moving to the city, where he wants to enrol in the university. Leva develops feelings towards one of his workmates, but keeps them to himself. Until he starts to believe the affection might be mutual.

"Passion" is a metaphorical story about a lady visited by the twin brother of her beloved: love turns into chaos, sin and atonement.

Uta’s mother died when she was six years old; her father she never met. She was forced to adopt a traveller’s life when her grandmother died, and now she is a dancer and part of a family of actors who travel from town to town, setting up street performances. A way of escape from this marginal existence arises when she gets the chance to move to tea merchant Hiramatsu’s place, where she is asked to teach his daughter to dance.

The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra brings together refugee musicians and Ukrainian members of leading European orchestras. One day after the third anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine, they perform Beethoven's 9th Symphony - a masterpiece and symbol of freedom and humanity - under the direction of Keri-Lynn Wilson in Warsaw's Teatr Wielki.

Two brothers attempt to rob a goon who isn't as helpless as he seems.

"Kateryna" tells the story of a Ukrainian girl whose love is betrayed by a Russian soldier. In her despair, she leaves her child alone in the forest and drowns herself in the lake. It is the opera house's largest production since Ukraine's declaration of independence. The commissioned work is based on a poem by Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), one of Ukraine's most important lyricists. The performance is partly on instruments specially developed for the opera, which imitate sounds of nature. 800 new costumes were designed and produced in Kharkiv.