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: 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.

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.

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: 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.

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.

Donbas on Screen: Rethinking History, Memory, and War

The program examines how the image and myth of the Donbas were shaped and transformed in Ukrainian cinema during the first half of the 20th century. This retrospective helps bridge the gap between avant-garde enthusiasm for industrialization and a critical reflection on the Soviet legacy—from World War II to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. These films invite viewers to see the Donbas not as a periphery or a “gray zone,” but as an integral part of Ukrainian history, culture, and the broader European experience.

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