Lothar Herzog : 2019

Young Belarusian student Lena is unable to get a grip on life. Her boyfriend Viktor is becoming more and more of a mystery. Lena is unable to decide whether their beautiful yet fragile love is doing her any good at all, and to top it all off, her father is in prison. To raise the bail money, Lena decides to continue her father's illegal business. In order to meet dubious dealers, she often drives her father's old truck across the border and into the Chernobyl exclusion zone and is stricken by this deserted area, featuring empty forests and abandoned villages. Increasingly, Lena finds herself crossing ever-more boundaries, geographical as well as imaginary ones. Lothar Herzog's feature debut premiered in competition at Zurich Film Festival 2019.

Agnieszka Holland : 2019

In March 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones takes a train from Moscow to Kharkov in the Ukraine. He disembarks at a small station and sets off on foot on a journey through the country where he experiences at first hand the horrors of a famine. Everywhere there are dead people, and everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out to the general public. Stalin's forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin; the policy is tantamount to mass murder. Supported by Ada Brooks, a New York Times reporter, Jones succeeds in spreading the shocking news in the West, thereby putting his powerful rival, the Pulitzer Prize-winning, pro-Stalin journalist Walter Duranty, firmly in his place. Based on real events, the dramatic thriller recalls the legendary journalist Gareth Jones (1905-1935) who, despite fierce resistance, could not be dissuaded from telling the truth. Agnieszka Holland's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2019.

Benedikt Erlingsson : 2018
Kona fer í stríð

Halla is a 50-year-old independent woman. But behind the scenes of a quiet routine, she leads a double life as a passionate environmental activist. Known to others only by her alias – "The Woman of the Mountain" – Halla secretly wages a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry. As Halla's actions grow bolder, going from petty vandalism to outright industrial sabotage, she succeeds in pausing negotiations between the Icelandic government and the corporation building a new aluminium smelter. But just as she begins planning her biggest and boldest operation yet, she receives an unexpected letter that changes everything. Her application to adopt a child has finally been accepted, and there is a little girl waiting for her in Ukraine. As Halla prepares to abandon her role as saboteur and saviour of the Highlands to fulfil her dream of becoming a mother, she decides to plot one final attack to deal the aluminium industry a crippling blow. Benedikt Erlingsson's feature premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2018, and screened in the Kinoscope section at Sarajevo Film Festival 2018.

Marysia Nikitiuk : 2018
Koly padayut dereva

The story of a five-year-old girl Vitka with her teenage cousin Larysa and her boyfriend, the young criminal Scar unfolds in a Ukrainian provincial setting. Larysa finds herself at a crossroads after the death of her father. Yearning to be self-made, the village community ostracises her for loving Scar. Larysa discovers her grandmother once sacrificed her love for a young gypsy, abandoning him for traditional values and other people's opinions. Larysa's mother is too psychologically weak to support her daughter. Larysa and Scar plan to escape from a life of crime, misery and their relatives. But are they ready to pay the full price for freedom? As the summer holidays arrive, forty days have passed since Larysa's father died. In a fairy-tale sequence, the young woman traverses a swampy landscape where a group of couples surrender to their sexual desires. Vitka is a little girl who also refuses to toe the line. Rebelling against her grandmother and her rules and regulations, she daydreams her life away in a fantasy land of surreal images. Writer/director Marysia Nikitiuk's script received the Krzysztof Kieślowski ScripTeast Award for the Best script from Eastern Europe at Festival de Cannes 2016. Her feature debut premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2018.

Aleksey Fedorchenko : 2018
Voyna Anny

Nazi-occupied Ukraine, in November of 1941. The entire family of 6-year-old Anna dies in the mass execution of Jews. The mother covers up Anna with her own body, and the girl miraculously survives. She regains consciousness under a layer of black earth, in a mass grave. For the next few hundred days Anna hides in the disused chimney at the Nazi Commandant's office in a requisitioned schoolhouse. From her shelter she views the war, watching life pass her by until the village is liberated from the Nazis. Her ingenuity, the items left behind by the slowly alternating visitors and the treasures she discovers in the adjacent rooms help her survive. Despite the inhuman conditions Anna keeps her humanity. Many factors help her: memories from the life swept away by war, the cultural foundations laid by her parents and a friend who saves her from loneliness. Aleksey Fedorchenko's feature premiered in the Voices section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2018.

Marina Stepanska : 2017
Strimholov

Young Anton has just been released from the rehab centre where he had sought treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction. His grandfather, a man of stern principles who brought him up from a young age, takes him off to the country, far from the lure of the big city. One night Anton meets Katia, who, like him, is trying to find her bearings in life, although at least one thing should be clear in her mind: she is shortly to be leaving for Berlin with her boyfriend Johann, a German photojournalist she met during the Maidan demonstrations. Her encounter with Anton, however, brings a new impulse into her life and profoundly affects both of them. Marina Stepanska's feature debut is both a fragile love story and a strong statement on the current young generation as it searches for its place in post-revolutionary Ukraine. Her film premiered in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Šarūnas Bartas : 2017

The story of a young man who has never experienced war but has grown up in its shadow. He enters a journey of discovery and sacrifice, crossing borders between countries, between people. Rokas and Inga, a couple of young Lithuanians, volunteer to drive a cargo van of humanitarian aid from Vilnius to Ukraine. When plans change and they find themselves left to their own devices, they cross the vast snowy lands of the Donbass region in search of allies and shelter, drifting into the lives of those affected by the war. They approach the frontline in spite of the danger, all the while growing closer to each other as they begin to understand life during wartime. Šarūnas Bartas's feature premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Ostap Kostyuk : 2014
The Living Fire

The snow is starting to melt and spring has announced its arrival. Three Carpathian shepherds, just like their fathers and grandfathers before them, set off with their flock into the mountains on a lonely journey lasting several months. Ten-year-old Ivanko spends his childhood in harmony with nature – in complete contrast to his peers. Vasyl, Ivanko's 39-year-old godfather, for whom sheep herding is almost a religious calling, contemplates his wasted youth. Then there's 82-year-old widower Ivan, who speaks nostalgically about the lonesome life-journey he travelled for decades on end. A nostalgic, mystery-tinged essay about an ancient profession that unbridled civilisation may soon swallow up. Ostap Kostyuk's documentary feature debut had its European premiere in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015.

Chad Gracia : 2015

Young, eccentric Ukrainian artist Fedor Alexandrovich was just four years old when the nuclear disaster struck in his hometown of Chernobyl. The event left a deep scar and Fedor, in his quest to learn more about what took place at the nuclear power plant, happens upon the Duga-1, a giant antenna built in Soviet times near Chernobyl, which emitted a regular low-pitched tapping sound and was known as "the Russian Woodpecker". Fedor arrives at a terrifying conclusion that not only explains the radio antenna's role in the disaster but also lays bare the cruelty inflicted on Ukraine by its Russian neighbours. Previous attempts to uncover the truth behind the nuclear disaster have been met with stubborn political obstacles that often border on the sinister. With increasing pressure from loved ones to abandon a project that could put him in serious danger and against the backdrop of a burgeoning revolution, the story of Ukraine's Soviet legacy with its devastating impact of political oppression, finds an uncomfortable parallel in Fedor's moral dilemma to choose between truth and family. Chad Gracia's documentary debut was winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival 2015, and screened at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015.

Eva Neymann : 2015
Pesn pesney

1905. A Jewish shtetl. Shimek and Buzja are two 10-year-olds, a princess and a prince from neighbouring palaces, sharing the same yard. What Buzja really means to him, Shimek begins to understand only years later when, far away from home, he receives the news that Buzja is about to be married off. Inspired by the acclaimed literary work by renowned Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, the film offers a markedly stylised vision of the lost world of the Jewish shtetl at the beginning of the 20th century. Poetic scenes created using truly magical images are loosely connected via the motif of childhood love, while the film's imaginative form is imbued with nostalgia. Eva Neymann's third feature received the Ecumenical Jury Special Mention when it premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015.

Oles Sanin : 2014
The Guide

Ukraine in the 1930s. American engineer Michael Shamrock arrives in Kharkiv with his ten-year-old son, Peter to help "build socialism". He falls in love with an actress, Olga who has another admirer, Communist Commissar Vladimir. Under tragic circumstances, the American is killed and his son is saved from his pursuers by a blind kobzar, Ivan Kocherga. With no other chance to survive in a foreign land, Peter becomes his guide. Ivan does everything to help his young guide to grow up and survive with a kind and clear soul that will not be hardened by what his eyes have seen. He tells the boy elaborate stories that make him believe there can be a different reality from what he sees around him. Their journey, full of dangerous adventures, unfolds against the background of one of the most dramatic pages of Ukrainian history and human destruction. The film about love, loyalty, betrayal and infamy is based on true events. Oles Sanin's feature premiered in competition at Odessa International Film Festival 2014, and received a Special Mention when it screened in competition at Bari International Film Festival 2015.

Amos Gitai : 2014

World War II. Tsili, a young Jewish woman, is hiding in the forest south of Czernowicz. Her entire family was deported to the camps. Hiding in the war zone, she builds a nest for herself. Escaping the savagery of the valley, she finds refuge in the nature. She is a little retarded and doesn't quite keep up with what is happening around her. Marek discovers her nest. He addresses her in Yiddish and finds out that she belongs to his people. Marek settles in the nest with Tsili. One day he goes down to the village to look for food but he never returns. The war is over. Tsili starts walking. She finds a group of people assembling next to the coast looking for a boat that will take them to another land. Amos Gitai's feature premiered at Venice International Film Festival 2014.

Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy : 2014
Plemya

Deaf-mute Sergey enters a specialised boarding school for deaf-and-dumb. In this new place, he needs to find his way through the hierarchy of the school's network dealing with crime and prostitution, The Tribe. By taking part in several robberies, he gets propelled higher into the organisation. Then he meets one of the Chief's concubines Anna, and unwillingly breaks all the unwritten rules of the tribe, putting him in a situation from which there is no escape. Communicating with the viewer exclusively through sign language, the director explains: "For me, the main goal was to make a more realistic, natural silent film, which would be easily understood without words. Sign language is like a dance, ballet, pantomime, kabuki theatre, etc. At the same time, there's no grotesque in it – people are communicating that way for real." Visionary filmmaker Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy's outstanding feature debut was the winner of three prizes, including the Grand Prix, when it premiered at Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes 2014. His film screened in the Special Events section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2014.

Alain Margot : 2014
I am Femen

Oxana is a woman, a fighter, an artist. As a teenager, her passion for iconography almost inspires her to join a convent, but in the end she decides to devote her talents to the Femen movement. With Anna, Inna and Sasha, she founds the famous feminist group which protests against the regime and which will see her leave her homeland, Ukraine, and travel all over Europe. Driven by a creative zeal and a desire to change the world, Oxana allows us a glimpse into her world and her personality, which is as unassuming, mesmerising and vibrant as her passionate artworks. A film on feminism, on protest, on the opposition to a government which no longer has anything to offer, and of the difficulties of living in a society which bases itself exclusively on corruption. It is also an intimate portrait of a group of women who are searching for their paths in life, in a world which rejects them and refuses to listen. Alain Margot's documentary was winner of the Jury Award when it premiered at Visions du Réel 2014.

Eva Neymann : 2012
Dom s bashenkoy

An eight-year-old boy travels with his mother to visit his grandfather during wartime. The mother, who is lying on the floor in a crowded freight car, has typhus and her condition is getting worse. They are forced to abandon the train in a nameless town where she is placed on a stretcher and four men take her to hospital. In this war-torn setting, surrounded by adults preoccupied with their own survival, the boy must shoulder a man's responsibility, take care of his baggage and get a telegram sent to his grandfather, no matter what the cost. Through a child's eyes, we see a country in chaos, a society exhausted by the interminable war and persistent food shortages, grotesque figures on the verge of losing their humanity and families torn apart by the war. Placing his trust in strangers, he is soon aboard a train. The beautiful wintry landscapes glimpsed from the window reflect the steely ice in the souls of people fighting for their survival. Eva Neymann's emotionally charged and captivating feature won the East of the West Award at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2012.

A film by Boris Khlebnikov & Alexei Popogrebsky

Following the death of his wife and loss of his job, a Russian engineer sets off from Moscow with his 11-year-old son for his sister's house in the Black Sea resort of Koktebel. With no money nor means of transport, they drift through Russia's expansive and mesmerising landscape at the mercy of chance. The father is content to drag his feet, stopping occasionally for the odd job to raise money while the son impatiently dreams of reaching the Crimean coastal resort to see gliders fly in the wind. For the father, the journey is an attempt to restore self respect, piece together his broken life and win back the trust of his son. For the boy, the mythic coastal town holds the key to a new life and emancipation.

During their journey they are met with many hurdles but the last encounter is with Xenia, a beautiful young village doctor who tends to the father's wounds. Since she is single and lonely they begin to fall for each other and this emerging relationship, as well as the father's recovery, threatens to delay the journey until the following spring. The son, who sees Xenia as an intrusion on the only loving relationship in his life, sets off to complete the journey by himself.

With a landscape of tracks, forests and wide open spaces integral to the conception of the story, this hypnotic road movie portrays the temporary liaisons that travel brings – with an understated tone of initial threat in the encounters, which comes from being exposed and homeless. The relationship between father and son is genuinely expressed through illuminating details; the story balanced between an earthly realism and a parable open to symbolism and interpretation. The simple plot is gracefully composed, with stunning lyrical visuals and an atmospheric soundtrack by Chick Corea. Wonderfully acted, delicately observed and beautifully shot, this award-winning debut feature from 2003 is also the story of the Russian landscape and the people living in the countryside.