Magic Mountain by Mariam Chachia and Nik Voigt (ჯადოსნური მთა)
Abastumani – a unique resort in Georgia, must yield to the country's richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili. The place that for more than a century often offered tuberculosis patients their last hope remained a persistent thought in the director's dreams. Through her personal medical history, the narrator approaches the fairy-tale-like and eerie past of the location. "The Magic Mountain of Abastumani" transforms – if only briefly – from a place of isolation and death into one of solidarity and mutual care.
SCREENINGS
29.10., 18:00
City Kino Wedding
Müllerstraße 74, 13349 Berlin
TICKETS
Panel: NO TIME LIKE HOME: Experiences of Displacement and Exile
Discover compelling short films exploring exile and the search for home, crafted in the aftermath of a full-scale invasion. Delve into the personal narratives of Ukrainians who stayed and those displaced, prompting reflection on the intricate concept of home and its impact on identity. Join us for a panel discussion featuring talented young filmmakers and thRead moreeir works.
Free entrance.
The event is supported by the Ukrainian Institute in Germany and Goethe-Institut in Exile.
28.10., 17:00
ACUD Kino
Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
TICKETS
UA Shorts I. Bridging Gaps // Animation program
The curated animation shorts program, created in collaboration with the LINOLEUM Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival, showcases the talents of Ukrainian animators. These works are characterized by their strangeness, wildness, and freedom, and they do not adhere to a common theme; each one tells its own distinctive story. While war serves as a prominent theme in many of the films, it plays different roles—sometimes serving as the central antagonist and at other times representing a tragic routine that has become an inescapable part of the characters' lives.
UNDER THE ENDLESS SKY | Oleksandra Dzhiganska | 4’ | 2022
TROIA | Andriy Naumenko | 3’ | 2022
MARIUPOL. A HUNDRED NIGHTS | Sofiia Melnyk | 7’ | 2022
SPRING | Mykyta Lyskov | 2’ | 2023
KYIV-UZHOROD | Dar’ya Terekhova | 2’ | 2023
THE WAR THAT CHANGED RONDO | Olha Havrylova | 16’ | 2020
DEEP WATER | Anna Dudko | 6’ | 2021
THE WAR THAT IS ALWAYS AROUND | Irina Harkavets | 1’ | 2022
THE RESPONSIBLE HERO | Roman Lysenko | 5’ | 2021
UNNECESSARY THINGS | Dmytro Lisenbart| 14’ | 2020
PAPER OR PLASTIC | Nata Metlukh | 8’ | 2019
WITHOUT YOU I‘M NOTHING / OKEAN ELZY | Oksana Kurmaz| 3’ | 2022
SILENT WITNESS | Anhelina Bilous| 00:29’ | 2023
SCREENINGS
26.10., 19:00
ACUD Kino
Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
TICKETS
27.10., 19:00
SPUTNIK KINO
Hasenheide 54/5th, 10967 Berlin
TICKETS
UA Shorts II. No Time Like Home
The program "No Time Like Home" is dedicated to showcasing a curated selection of recently created short films that emerged in the aftermath of a full-scale invasion. Exploring the themes of home, displacement, and the search for belonging, these films offer deeply personal narratives from the perspective of Ukrainians profoundly impacted by these events.
WAKING UP IN SILENCE | Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi |17’ | 2023
I STUMBLE EVERY TIME I HEAR FROM KYIV |Daryna Mamaisur | 17’ | 2023
THREE WINDOWS ON SOUTH WEST | Mariia Ponomarova | 8’ | 2023
THE LIGHTS OF KYIV | Serhii Tykhoniuk |16’ | 2023
ONE ALOE, ONE FICUS, ONE AVOCADO AND SIX DRACAENAS | Marta Smerechynska | 8’ | 2023
I DID NOT WANT TO MAKE A WAR FILM | Nadiia Parfan| 17’ | 2022
SCREENINGS
28.10., 19:00
ACUD Kino
Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
UFFB Afterparty feat. Chain Reaction
This year, the Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin is excited to partner with the dynamic local promo-group Chain Reaction to deliver an unforgettable musical experience right in the heart of Kreuzberg on October 28th. Join us as Ukrainian and international DJs take the stage at MENA for an electrifying fusion of music, including a special Ukrainian 90s set.
Entrance is donation-based.
28.10., 22:00
MENA
Skalitzer Str. 114, 10999 Berlin
Acting Skills Enhancement Workshop
Join multilingual actor Ivan Doan in a workshop focusing on reducing accents and acquiring them for auditions or roles, covering organic language learning, active listening, language rhythm, intonation, and language sounds. In "Game of Archetypes" with actress Alina Kostyukova, explore your archetypes and how others perceive you through engaging exercises and discussions.
The workshop is suitable for non-actors and actors as well, conducted in English & Ukrainian.
Entrance donation to volunteer organization “Spilna Meta” (Common goal), which is collecting donations to buy drones for the Ukrainian army.
28.10., 11:00
ACUD Kino
Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
Luxembourg, Luxembourg by Antonio Lukich
There are many beautiful places to die. Luxembourg is not one of them. But beautiful or not, Luxembourg makes dying very expensive. When twin brothers hear that their long-absent father is sick in Luxembourg, they set out on a journey to see him one last time. Will the man they find be the badass father they remember?
Watch Trailer
SCREENINGS
28.10., 21:00
ACUD Kino
Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
TICKETS
Dovbush by Oles Sanin
In the 18th century, Hutsuls of the Carpathians face foreign rule, leading to the rise of the Dovbush brothers as mountain outlaws. Oleksa, driven by ideals, faces a plot targeting his love, Marichka.
SCREENINGS
28.10., 19:00
SPUTNIK KINO
Hasenheide 54/5th, 10967 Berlin
TICKETS
29.10., 19:00
ACUD Kino
Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
TICKETS
Iron Butterflies by Roman Liubyi
In the summer of 2014, sunflower fields and coal mines in eastern Ukraine turned into a 12 square kilometers crime scene. A multi-layered investigation into the downing of flight MH17, in which a butterfly-shaped shrapnel was found in the pilot’s body, implicated the state responsible for a war crime that remains unpunished.
SCREENINGS
25.10., 19:00
Filmtheater Colosseum - Kino 1
Gleimstraße 33, 10437 Berlin
TICKETS
26.10., 19:00
SPUTNIK KINO
Hasenheide 54/5th, 10967 Berlin
TICKETS
20 Days in Mariupol by Mstyslav Chernov
Through raw, personal footage, AP cinematographer Mstyslav Chernov paints an unapologetic picture of Mariupol’s siege.
The talk after the film is organized by the Pilecki Institute Berlin in cooperation with Vitsche e.V.
SCREENINGS
29.10., 19:00
Filmtheater Colosseum - Kino 1
Gleimstraße 33, 10437 Berlin
TICKETS
We Will Not Fade Away by Alisa Kovalenko
In 2014, five Ukrainian teens grew up amidst war-torn Donbas. Shelling and gunfire became routine, overshadowing their yearning for a better life. A Himalayan expedition offered them a fleeting escape, however, it was shattered by Russia's 2022 invasion.
SCREENINGS
26.10., 19:00
Filmtheater Colosseum - Kino 2
Gleimstraße 33, Berlin
TICKETS
27.10., 19:00
IL Kino
Nansenstraße 22, 12047 Berlin
TICKETS
La Palisiada by Philip Sotnychenko
Ukraine, 1996. Two old friends, a police detective and a forensic psychiatrist, investigate a murder of their colleague. Long time ago, both of them were in love with the widow of the deceased. Immersed in the complicated case and long forgotten memories, they create a future where their children have to live, inheriting unrealized aspirations of their parents.
SCREENINGS
27.10., 19:00
Filmtheater Colosseum - Kino 2
Gleimstraße 33, 10437 Berlin
TICKETS
Rule of Two Walls by David Gutnik
RULE OF TWO WALLS is an intimate look at the war in Ukraine, as seen through the eyes of Ukrainian artists who remained in their country to make art as a defiant act in the face of aggression.
SCREENINGS
28.10., 19:00
Filmtheater Colosseum - Kino 2
Gleimstraße 33, 10437 Berlin
TICKETS
Do You Love Me by Tonia Noyabriova
One year before the Soviet Union collapses. Kira (17 y.o) is stepping out of her adolescence into adult life at the very same moment as Ukraine steps out of Soviet slavery into the unknown. Together they will try all kinds of things for the first time – funny, dangerous, rebellious – as every teenager does.
Watch Trailer
SCREENINGS
26.10., 20:00
City Kino Wedding
Müllerstraße 74, 13349 Berlin
TICKETS
Three Women by Maksym Melnyk
"Three Women" is a glimpse into a scenic Ukrainian Carpathian village, through the lives of Hanna, Maria, and Nelya. The film captures their everyday chores and ardent longings, exploring themes of identity and community in a changing world.
SCREENINGS
26.10., 19:00
IL Kino
Nansenstraße 22, 12047 Berlin
TICKETS
27.10., 19:00
ACUD Kino
Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
TICKETS
In the Rearview by Maciek Hamela
The van, a multifaceted sanctuary, travels thousands of kilometers, capturing heartfelt confessions and a collective portrait of Ukrainians striving for safety amidst conflict. Temporary asylum unites them, transcending differences, while the grim reality of war's reflection remains palpable in the background.
SCREENINGS
28.10., 17:00
Filmtheater Colosseum - Kino 2
Gleimstraße 33, 10437 Berlin
TICKETS
29.10., 19:00
SPUTNIK KINO
Hasenheide 54/5th, 10967 Berlin
TICKETS
BABYLON XX by Ivan Mykolaychuk
Mykolaychuk made history in world cinema in the 1960s, playing the role of Ivan in Sergei Parajanov's “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”. But Mykolaychuk himself also made brilliant, poetic, authorial films that are incredibly interesting to watch today. His films are surprisingly polyphonic: folk songs in different languages, colorful heroines and heroes in a complex, intricate ecosystem of social life.
Babylon XX is the directorial debut of actor Ivan Mykolaychuk. Set in the picturesque Ukrainian village of Babylon in the 1920s, the film tells the story of the clash between the old and new political worlds. The international premiere of the film took place at the Locarno Film Festival, and it became a high-profile event, even though it was shot at a time (1979) when Ukrainian cinema was under considerable pressure from the official Soviet government.
SCREENINGS
27.10., 20:00
City Kino Wedding
Müllerstraße 74, 13349 Berlin
TICKETS
Such Late, Such Warm Autumn by Ivan Mykolaychuk
Another "Bukovinian story" tells the story of Rusnak, a peasant who leaves for Canada in search of a better life and later returns home with his granddaughter Orysia. Through the character of Orysia, Ivan Mykolaychuk raises an important issue of national consciousness: in Bukovyna, Orysia falls in love with a local boy and realizes her own national identity. It was Ivan Mykolaychuk who played the handsome village boy Hryhor, with whom Orysia falls in love.
SCREENINGS
29.10., 20:00
City Kino Wedding
Müllerstraße 74, 13349 Berlin
TICKETS
The White Bird Marked with Black by Yuri Illienko
The White Bird Marked with Black is a landmark film of the Ukrainian cinema era, a film that belongs to the school of Ukrainian poetic cinema, a famous film directed by Yuriy Illienko and shot at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Kyiv Film Studio. Despite the fact that Yuriy Illienko shot the film back in 1970, it was released on the big screen only two years later, on January 17, 1972! 50 years later, The White Bird Marked with Black is still among the most iconic films, ranking 8th in the list of the 100 best films in the history of Ukrainian cinema.
SCREENINGS
27.10., 18:00
City Kino Wedding
Müllerstraße 74, 13349 Berlin
TICKETS
Self-Portrait along the Borderline by Anna Dziapshipa (ავტოპორტრეტი ზღვარზე)
In her essay film, the Georgian-Abkhazian director retrospectively explores her identity in a border region filled with trauma and loss. Over 20 years later, she can return to her abandoned house in occupied Abkhazia. A summer house like a spider's web, keeping the first-person narrator trapped in the past. Using the family archive, Anna Dziapshipa reconstructs an intimate portrait of a Georgian-Abkhazian family and reflects on questions of identity and memory work in the context of war.
The film is followed by Q&As with the film director Anna Dziapshipa.
SCREENINGS
26.10., 18:00
City Kino Wedding
Müllerstraße 74, 13349 Berlin
TICKETS
A Room of my Own by Ioseb „Soso“ Bliadze (ჩემი ოთახი)
The film by Ioseb (Soso) Bliadze tells the story of Tina and Megi, two young women who become roommates by chance. In their shared flat, worlds collide as these two women from very different social milieux navigate their new life together. Megi is a sociable and modern woman with many friends and an outgoing lifestyle who plans to leave the country after her US visa is approved. On the other hand, Tina, who comes from a conservative family and is already divorced at the age of 25 and has been struggling to find her place in the world after the dissolution of her marriage. Despite their distinct backgrounds, both women encounter similar obstacles as they transition into adulthood. Throughout the film, their shared apartment becomes a haven of support and a merging of their disparate worlds.
The film screening is followed by the Q&As with Taki Mumladze, the co-author and one of the main actresses, and Eva Blondiau, the producer.
SCREENINGS
28.10., 18:00
City Kino Wedding
Müllerstraße 74, 13349 Berlin
TICKETS