CRIMEA. ISOLATION

As part of the Ukrainian Film Festival in Berlin, we invite you to a special screening of Crimea. Isolation, a two-part documentary produced by Cemaat Production.

Remembering Babyn Yar: Spell Your Name

Serhiy Bukovsky’s 2006 documentary Spell Your Name (Назви своє ім’я, 2006, Ukraine/USA, 90 min.) gives survivors of the Babyn Yar massacre an opportunity to speak as witnesses. The film’s experimental format skilfully combines testimonies recorded by the USC Shoah Foundation during the 1990s with Soviet footage from the Second World War and contemporary images, creating a multilayered narrative structure. With considerable artistic ambition, the film examines the role of archival material and explores the possibilities and forms of representing atrocities through cinema.

Donbas on Screen: Flower on the Stone

In a young town under construction in the middle of the Donets steppe, Hryhoriy Hryva, a miner with a complex character, falls in love with Lyuda, an idealistic activist who does not reciprocate his feelings. A parallel plotline follows another couple whose love is tested by a local religious sect.

Remembering Babyn Yar: The Taras Family (Neskoreni)

An adaptation of the novella of the same name by Borys Horbatov about the “heroic life and struggle” of the Donbas during the German occupation. The family of factory master Taras Yatsenko cannot evacuate the city due to the illness of his granddaughter, Mariyka. Taras himself is confident that everything will soon pass—one must only wait and not submit to the enemy. Nevertheless, the reality of war shatters all attempts to distance oneself from the conflict, drawing more and more people around Yatsenko into its whirlpool.

Donbas on Screen: I Love

Long ago, Ostap’s father left a poverty-stricken village to seek work in the Donbas region. The house built by Nikanor laid the foundation for the mining settlement of Sobacheyevka. Ostap followed in his father’s footsteps, working thirty years for the mine owner. But when his father was dismissed, Ostap realized it was pointless to blame management alone for their hardship. Upon meeting the revolutionary worker Harbuz (Aleksandr Antonov), he becomes one of the leaders of the revolutionary movement among the Donbas miners.

Donbas on Screen: Enthusiasm: The Symphony of Donbas

An audiovisual symphony capturing the industrial, agricultural, and cultural life of the Donbas region during the first Soviet Five-Year Plan. The film places a strong emphasis on anti-religious campaigns, propaganda marches, and physical culture of the era. It stands as the first sound film in Ukrainian cinema history.

Fear and Loathing in Ukraine: 90s Horror Animation

This short film programme dives into the dark side of Ukrainian animation. Always experimenting with form and genre, Ukrainian animation artists drew inspiration from folklore, everyday reality and the European avant-garde. The result is a grotesque mix of horror, absurdism and black humour, reflecting the fears and struggles of everyday life in 1990s Ukraine.

UFFB 2026 festival party

The annual Ukrainian Film Festival Party is back to celebrate cinema, togetherness and Ukrainian culture.

Short Film Competition: Program II — Unexpected Natures

A rock speaks, an invisible worker dances herself into view, a filmmaker confronts the people he has turned into cinema, and wildlife inhabits the toxic remains of Soviet industry. Moving between animation, documentary, essay, and performance, these films descend underground — into buried histories, hidden lives, and damaged landscapes. Between destruction and renewal, they reveal life reorganizing itself within the ruins.

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