Yaroslav Pilunskyi

An absurd story reflecting contemporary social problems in Ukraine, told in the century-old language of cinema, linking modernity and traditional Soviet socialist realism. Classical imagery imitates an old ideology contradicting the author’s worldview revealing the roots of reality’s distortion in this post-Soviet ambience showing that cultural, political and economic problems are knotted in military conflict.

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world.

"Stronger than Arms", is the history that heats our hearts up with the memory of events and people, who from the time of Euromaidan to the war in the East were building a new Ukraine.

The film is a psychological drama developing on the highlands of the Carpathian Mountains. Two helpless old men, brothers, desperately trying to keep up competition with each other in order to prolong their lives. Even though their bodies are decaying and both are sick the one still wants to outlive the other ... But one day a woman enters their remote dwelling...

Arina is young, reach and independent woman. She's married to a wealthy businessman. But deep inside she's still looking for a true love.

Twelve young filmmakers made this the guiding principle of the featured documentary film. They mingle amongst the demonstrators on Independence Square and in the Donetsk region, shooting a "Chronicle of Civil Protest", a kaleidoscope of voices, opinions and events which bears witness to the circumstances surrounding solidarity and struggle. The viewer observes the Ukrainians at first hand, experiencing how a hard-pressed society becomes more militant and slides ever deeper into the abyss of civil war.

This film plays out in Ukraine on a single day: March 14, 2022, the 2,944th day of the Russian-Ukrainian War. In the last few weeks, intense warfare has surreally mixed places and people and created a post-apocalyptic dimension revealing new qualities and roles. Thousands of Kyivans have moved to live in subway stations. The capital city's previously calm suburbs have been transformed into battle zones of destruction and looting by Russian occupiers. People no longer live according to "workdays" or "weekends," counting instead the number of days since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine... The film presents this day in the lives of a pop music star, video engineer, historian, art restorer, polar researcher, and pensioner, who were all forced to radically change their lives.

Every year on the International Women’s Day telephone networks transfer millions of phone calls and SMS messages. The vast majority of phone calls are addressed to the most important women in lives of everyone - to our mothers. But what would it be if because of enormous number of calls telephone network breaks down? What would we do? Someone would wait until network is rebuilt and would congratulate his mom in the evening or even the next day. But others, like the heroes of our movie, would change their plans to congratulate their moms just today ... personally ... as a kid!..

80th years of the 20th century. The country is embraced by the "struggle" for "perestroika" and "glasnost", in Afghanistan - the height of the war, where hundreds die eighteen-year-old boys. Their peers, Denis, have little impact on the social problems of an agitated country. A newly-made student at the Institute of Cinematography - in euphoria and wine hops ... One night he encounters a strange, mysterious stranger and falls in love with her until unconscious ... Soon Denis learns that the lover is married and older than he. Elizaveta Tenetska - a famous director, almost a legend, she is talented and bold with authority. On Denis's passion, she answers with the icy cold...

A nervous married couple, two radiant high school graduates, an ambiguous folk song and a cake – the table is set for a disaster. A surreal satire about traditional values and antiquated prejudices.

As the son of two inmates Hyacinth was always more at home in prison than in the outside world, until he took part in a foot race that promised to change his life.

While parents, people of traditional rural values, are cooking blood sausage for the visit of daughter-in-law, Andriy, their son, tries to communicate the fact his fiancee is Jewish.

The Ukrainian Revolution (2013-2014) and the war with Russia in the Donbas are nearing. The film deals with the history of the First Company of the Maidan, which defeated the enemy within and advanced to the frontlines to fight the external enemy. Immersion in the epicentre of events, a frank artistic and civilian view of human relationships against the background of violent social upheaval. Immutable human stories, the collision of charismatic characters, challenges and solutions on the verge of life and death, the search for interaction, the first steps towards the formation of civil society - All of this is summed up by an understanding of the way already travelled and an optimistic view of Ukraine's future.

Ruslana Abrosimova, 17 years old, lives in Mariinka, Donetsk region. Now Ruslana is in an unconditional state of war and is struggling every day with her desire to go out on the street or to stay at home, safe, in her room. War in Ukraine rages for more than five years already. Still, teens never cease to think about studying, discovering new cities and their bright future. Conflict occurs at every step as soon as the children open their room doors. That`s why Ruslana decided to take her camera and start to film her reality.

The film’s events take place on a single day: August 24, 2022, the day Ukraine celebrates the 31st anniversary of the renewal of independent statehood. The film combines places and people that best capture the country’s wartime spirit. The locations are: the relatively safe cities of Kyiv and Lviv; the cities under daily missile fire of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv; a trench at the frontlines near Donetsk; and the beaches of Odesa. The film presents a day in the life of a beach police patrol, a woman anti-tank missile operator, a water delivery driver, a mortar unit soldier, a rapid assault unit soldier, a 14-year-old pub janitor, an artist and a former member of parliament. Together, these people and places create an engaging mosaic of a day in the life of Ukraine.

The kaleidoscope of stories shines a light on Ukrainians bravely defending their land against the Russian invasion, where millions struggle for their right to exist. A compendium of short films, this is highlights the full tragedy that followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It charts the course of the Russian progression across the country through the lives and communities of those affected by the wide-scale aggression, alongside those fighting for their land. The film details the force of the assault, but its primary focus lies with the strength of the communities that have had to endure unimaginable hardships but who remain resilient in the face of such oppression. It joins an increasing number of ground-level films documenting the reality of this modern tragedy. Initially, the film did not contain an indication of the directors and cinematography team, which was indicated as a team of authors of "KINODOPOMOHA".

Roma was working in London when the Ukrainian conflict rapidly escalated with Russia’s army rolling across the border of his home. He decides to return to his family, whose town soon becomes a battlefield. While they take shelter in basements, cut off from the rest of their country, Roma joins an air intelligence unit, operating drones to locate the whereabouts of the invading force. As the drone flies, Roma is so close to his family, but in reality, the gulf between them is enormous.

A sickly man places a classified ad in which he offers a huge downtown loft apartment, utilities, food and eventual ownership of the flat with just one proviso: the couple who moves in must love each other so much that they can remain in the flat all day until the old man’s death. If one of them leaves, the deal is off. Enter the pale and auburn-haired Katya, a cellist who meets photographer Roman, a handsomely muscular young man.

The film looks at people transformed by a democratic revolution, who give up their normal lives to fight a Russian invasion, in a war which has killed 10,000 and displaced 1.9 million Ukrainians.

Mom sends her daughter to grandma's with pies and she meets a wolf on a forest path. However, the beast fails to deceive the girl. The heroes ride motorcycles, speak exclusively in youth slang, and the Wolf communicates with his "old rocker" dad via e-mail.

In a delicate and humane manner, this film touches upon a very serious issue: how to stop fearing death while being in love with life. We talk (and laugh) about this subject with the protagonists of this film, modern geniuses and ordinary people from different parts of the world.

A story about the life of a girl who got a job as an assistant director of a large cosmetic company. Once in the world of beautiful and rich, the heroine feels uncomfortable, but she is not one of those who run away from challenges. She proves with her diligence that attractive appearance and fashionable clothes are not the main thing in a person. And even her boss begins to see in the main character something more than just a "gray mouse". Adaptation of the Colombian serial format «Yo soy Betty, la fea» («Unattractive Betty»).

In the year 2012 (a future time when the film was made), an underground laboratory ten kilometres beneath the steppes of Western Siberia is the stage for the top-secret Project BUNKER. Distinguished scientists have been working on a mysterious scientific experiment for the last three years, with a strange, anonymous, and extremely popular erotic manuscript circulating through the complex serving as their only distraction. Now a new researcher has arrived — a veterinarian, despite the lack of animals at the facility — and the scientists already in place are wondering why.