Above All

Three months of revolution. From indignant protest to national unity. From pots on their heads to batons and body armor. From the euphoria of victory to the mourning of the fallen Heavenly Hundred. Revolution as an explosion of revived dignity, as the euphoria of freedom, as the pain of awareness at the cost, as the birth of the modern history of Ukraine. This year we have decided not to have an opening film, because all our attention is focused on the changes taking place in our country today. We have asked the directors who filmed the Ukrainian protests to share their best shots with us. The episodes of these upcoming films about the Euromaidan were formed in a kaleidoscope of revolution, which needs no comment. We offer you a chronicle of the Ukrainian protest. Experience the three months of fighting with us, feel and see the revolution through our eyes.

Askania-Nova is the largest steppe wildlife sanctuary in Europe. It is located in south part of Ukraine, not far from Crimea peninsula. In order to underline this unique beauty we created a documentary musical film about life of animals and people in wildlife sanctuary of Askania-Nova. The movie reveals stories of a three protagonists, whose destinies were entangled because of wildlife sanctuary.

The young musician vagabond cheats his mother pretending he is external student of the fiscal academy and serving in the military. Mother works abroad and sends money to her son. Everything is fucking good till last exam session. He fails and could be excluded from the academy. Mother goes to Ukraine to do whatever is needed to help her son to make his way in the world. The son should play a military show to hide his bluff.

A young man lies down on the grass in the public garden. That becomes a reason to begin conversations by other people.

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".

Looted by Russian occupational forces between 24 and 26 October 2022, the Kherson Museum of Local Lore used to house Southern Ukraine's largest and oldest collections of antiquities. The museum featured more than 173000 objects, spanning seven thousand years, from Scythian gold to World War II weaponry. Two weeks before Kherson was liberated by the Ukrainians, Russian occupational forces enacted a strategic theft, stripping centuries of Ukrainian history from the museum/region. The sound of shellings and missile strikes was recorded during filming inside the museum on December 12, less than two kilometers away from russian-occupied territory.

"Cities and Their Heroes" is a documentary almanac collection of six documentary stories of ordinary people and six cities of wartime Ukraine - Bashtanka, Ivankiv, Mykolaiv, Okhtyrka, Kharkiv and Chernihiv. Its about the phenomenon of ordinary Ukrainian heroism, when people in dark times find the strength to do good deeds, help others under bombings, during occupation and wartime attacks. The characters of the film - a bodyguard, a TV presenter, a puppet theater actress, a mayor of a small town, a restaurateur and a composer - not only had the strength to survive, but also found a new way in life and helped those around them.

Since early childhood Anna has loved animals – she taught biology at school and worked in the zoo. As a woman, she realised quite soon that she had to be physically strong too. That is why, at the age of 40, she embarked on a career of a power triathlete and soon became a multiple world champion and the strongest woman in the world. Using the power of social media, she ran a campaign for animal rights, opened animal shelters and looked for new families for dozens of stray dogs and cats. When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Anna went on to help wounded and abandoned animals.

"Beyond Euro" is the result of collective work of the youth creative laboratory. His idea can probably be defined as an attempt to impersonate the crowd. The ability to see, to distinguish a human face from a crowd that seems faceless, cohesive on a sporting, political, or any other basis. And tell me about it. That's probably the point. Both the Almanac and the laboratory. How successful this experiment is will be judged by the audience. In any case, it took place. And here is a series of attentive, thoughtful, concerned or ironic, but always caring and independent views of young authors on the reality that surrounds them. To see a separate human face in a crowd also means to keep your own. In any crowd... which is thus personified and gets a chance to turn into a society. The thought is not new, but it needs to be reminded.