The little-known story of Ukrainian children torn from their homes in the crush between the Nazi and Soviet fronts in World War II. Spending their childhood as refugees in Europe, these inspiring individuals later immigrated to the United States, creating new homes and communities through their grit, faith and deep belief in the importance of preserving culture.
This film is about what the routine of everyday life can do to the human mind and psyche. It also reflects on the importance of the choices we make and how limited these choices are in the first place. The plot evolves around a family of four. They live in the suburbs, in a strange villa that appears, through a complex game of mirrors, to be more like a piece of installation art than a real house. The main character, who hardly appears on screen, is the son, a man in his thirties. Suffering from asthma and eczema since childhood, he uses his condition to manipulate his parents and his sister. Thus the existence of the terrorized family turns into an endless ritual of attempting to satisfy his whims, and always on the alert for yet another one of his “health crises”. Las Meninas resembles the scattered pieces of a puzzle. It is up to the viewer to assemble them in order to form his very own picture – something that makes the film itself personal and unique.
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.
Two mirror situations: telephone conversation of a Russian soldier with his mother, and a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who also communicates with his own, during the Russian military aggression. Why is there such a huge gulf between our people and their people? Perhaps the answer to this question lies in the difference in relationship with mothers.
Nina is a successful TV star, but her life changes when she is diagnosed with cancer. Facing a personal crisis, she has to confront her deepest fears.
As Carpathian legend has it, Oleksa Dovbush was a heroic outlaw with excellent fighting skills and a gift to predict the future. He was left an orphan as a small boy after a local lord murdered Oleksa's mother. After spending his childhood in exile in the mountains, he returned as a grown man to avenge his mother's death. Oleksa gathered followers to begin a crusade against the lord, but destiny made other plans for him.
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.
Two dolls accidentally meet in the middle of nowhere. They dwell on life in the country where nature, love, and humans face the cruelty of war, loneliness, and separation. What can keep us all together during this uneasy time? What do we really want and need? How can our country and love in its various manifestations pave their way to something immortal and encouraging? Feel it and experience it through the reportage of the unknown man.
A young IT worker is in search of meaning in his life as he struggles to fulfill his dreams.
Yulia is constantly harassed by her classmate Lika. Unexpectedly, Yulia rescues Lika's brother, who was involved in a car accident. Lika, who was the bully, changes.
Mariupol. Pre-war life in a small Ukrainian town on the shore of the Azov Sea, with a good family life, quarrelsome neighbors, amateur opera, denunciations to the NKVD, and a dance floor in the city garden, the persecution of religion and, of course, with love.
A seventeen-year-old village school graduate, a guy nicknamed Kazan, dreams of becoming a famous rapper and winning the heart of Sveta. For the sake of his dream, he is willing to risk everything, but circumstances steer his life in a different direction.
Two fellow athletes fall in love with the same girl. They try to get money for her treatment for cancer.
The new reality changes the usual life in the village of Babylon. Attempts to communize the small town are met with resistance from the rich people living in the town. The Red Army finally puts down the resistance. Amidst the resistance philosopher Fabian returns to Babylon and tries to prevent bloodshed, but he meets a tragic fate.
Lugansk region, May 2014. The Novozhilov family, by chance, finds itself in the thick of events in Lugansk. Vlad Novozhilov is a former participant in the war in Afghanistan. He knows firsthand what war is. Having seen enough of the horrors of war in his time, in principle he does not even want to touch a weapon. In a situation, he sees only one way out - to leave the country. But you can't run away from the war, the border is already closed. To save his family, he will have to make difficult moral choices.
Émilie benefits from a professional trip to Kiev to return to see the street where she lived as a child. But this street was knocked down and replaced by a commercial complex. A zone where roams an escort of crocodiles.
Personal videos from the phones, camcorders, cameras and GoPros of Ukrainian soldiers are woven into a surreal journey to the frontline of the war with Russia. The film shows a bizarre world whose laws are quite different from what we are used to. The behaviour is different, the relationships unfold differently and the humour takes on different notes. The heroes wake up and fall asleep, rejoice and cry, always feeling that the recording may end at any moment.
Daniel Cohen, a virtuoso violinist from Belgium, considers himself a citizen of the world, believes in goodness and justice. At the end of February 2022, he comes on tour to Kiev, and this trip changes his life forever. The events of the Special Military Operation lead the musician to the Ukrainian village of Semidveri, where he witnesses inhuman crimes and bloody provocations. Now his main goal is not just to survive, but to convey the truth to the whole world. Truth is stronger than fear.
Four short stories are set along the roads of Donbass during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of just what is going on. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenseless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge.
'A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa' unfolds during an interesting era in the history of Eastern Europe when Russia, under Peter the Great, and Sweden, under King Charles XII, struggled for power; the Ukraine was the pawn in the middle. In 1709, Ivan Mazepa, Hetman of Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire, signed a pact with the Swedish king promising to support Sweden in its war against Russia provided that the Ukraine was given its independence.