Donbas on Screen: Enthusiasm: The Symphony of Donbas

From the very beginning of his career in cinema, Dziga Vertov eagerly anticipated the arrival of sound, which he believed would bring cinema closer to reality and "truth." The leader of the Kinoks believed in the possibility of noise-based music in film—not just "visual" music—and was convinced that future movies would allow audiences not only to see and hear, but also to smell and physically touch facts.

In Enthusiasm, Vertov was tasked with portraying "the monumental growth of the Donbas, its extraordinary pace of industrialization amidst the continuous roar of machinery, iron and coal dust, and eternal, unquenchable flames."

The director began sound recording for Symphony of Donbas immediately after the initial shooting days in early spring of 1930. He initially worked on sound in a studio in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation), recording a "sound-and-noise" march intended to score a third of the film. Gradually, Vertov decided to incorporate not only artificially created studio sounds, but also authentic documentary recordings of streets, factories, and machinery, doubling the audio portion of the project. Ultimately, recording synchronous sound proved that the entire film could be produced as a sound picture.

Initially received as an intriguing and vital experiment in Ukrainian and Soviet cinema, Symphony of Donbas was later sharply criticized for technical and political shortcomings. Vertov attempted to defend his work in the pages of the journal Proletarian Cinema (Proletarskoye Kino) by sharing a compilation of positive reviews from the Western press, including praise from Charlie Chaplin himself. The journal's editorial board dismissed this as a display of "megalomania" and responded with even harsher criticism.

In 2021, Enthusiasm was ranked 28th on the list of the 100 Greatest Films in the History of Ukrainian Cinema.

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.

Each screening will feature an introductory talk and discussion led by film expert Anna Onufriienko and external moderator, highlighting the historical context, film language, and contemporary significance of the works.

Anna Onufriienko is a cultural studies researcher, film historian, and curator specializing in Soviet cinema, visual propaganda, and cinematic representations of the Donbas region. From 2014 to 2022, she served as a film critic and programmer at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre, co-curating major retrospective projects like VUFKU. Lost & Found. Her work on Soviet and industrial media history includes co-editing the book Cinematographic Revision of Donbas (2015, 2018), co-editing the DVD set Chornobyl [in]Visible (2017), and co-directing the montage film project Atomopolis. Assembling Utopia (2016).

All descriptions and materials presented above are provided by the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre (Dovzhenko Centre), a partner of these screenings.