Ukrainian Sheriffs

In the wild steppes of southern Ukraine, a young nature researcher named Yura is looking for an endangered species of groundhog but instead witnesses a crime. Eager to expose the truth, Yura takes his photo evidence to the local newspaper's editorial office. However, he quickly realizes that nobody there cares about pursuing justice. While a big war is looming over the horizon, Yura's naive worldview is splintering in a storm of fake news, rigged political elections, and mysterious cult rituals. On his quest, the hero is about to find out who he really is-an endangered species of a good man or just a loser?

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.

During a year of the war, Ilya 'Hottabych' Lysenko, a participant in the Maidan and a successful financial director, managed to create a team of five medical crews who evacuate the injured under fire from the hottest flashpoints on the frontline.

A series of odd coincidences has left Lukas, an interpreter for an OSCE military checkpoint inspection tour, stranded near a small southern Ukrainian steppe town. With nowhere to turn, this city boy finds shelter at the home of a colorful local named Vova. With Vova as his guide, Lukas is confronted by a universe beyond his imagination, one in which life seems utterly detached from any identifiable structure. Fascinated by his host and his host's daughter Marushka, with whom he is rapidly falling in love, Lukas’s contempt for provincial life slowly melts away and sets him on a quest for a happiness he had never known could exist.

This film is a fresco pictured on a background of an abandoned port-town. A taxi-driver falls in love with a young lady, passenger in his car. He makes a decision to marry her and entices her to his house. The lady is scared, she tries to escape, but the taxi-driver locks her up in the bathroom and starts getting ready to the wedding... The film is about a real person from a Ukrainian province who cannot express his own feelings in a common way. He was brought up seeing psychological violence, man's domination over a woman. And even in the situation when he sincerely wants to keep the lady from danger and propose his love and faithfulness, he cannot use any other methods but violence. The script is based on real facts. The characters in the film are real residents of the town Kherson located in the South of Ukraine who shared stories from their lives and brought them to the screen. The film recieved the Main prize at Film festival "Kinoshok" from the Jury of Russian Producers.

A series of multi-genre short films dedicated to the epidemic of socio-cultural nihilism that has engulfed Ukrainian society.

The day after the students on the Euromaidan were beaten up, the activists of the Center for Civil Liberties opened a hotline for the victims and the volunteer lawyers, thus providing the protesters with legal services and defenders in court. Today, they monitor war crimes, engage in international advocacy, and struggle for the release of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.

On the first day of the Russian occupation of the peninsula, Crimean activists created a Facebook page with this title to provide up-to-date and reliable information about the situation in Crimea. Today, Crimea SOS provides urgent humanitarian, legal, psychological aid to internally displaced persons, and is fighting for the return of Crimea to Ukraine.

Myr - a film about Myroslav Hai, an acting teacher in the famous project So You Think You Can Dance, who, during the very first days of Russia's aggression in eastern Ukraine, created a powerful volunteer foundation, and provides the soldiers of the Anti-Terrorist Operation with food, uniforms, night vision devices, and other military equipment.

In the east and south of Ukraine, many people do not speak Ukrainian. Activists organize free courses for everyone who wants to learn, bring book fairs and music bands to cities and towns, and organize meetings with writers.

Automaidan - civic activities on four wheels. It started as an association of car owners who patrolled the streets, blocked government buildings, and helped the activists on the Maidan.

From its first days, the Euromaidan was guarded by Self-Defense - the volunteers who maintained order and security by working in shifts. Now most of them serve in the National Guard of Ukraine, and the rest have created self-defense squads in cities and villages all over Ukraine and maintain public order. The Odesa Self-Defense revealed a scheme for smuggling fuel via the sea port to the occupied territories of the Donbas.

Bloggers - a film about the common people who, using social media, changed the course of the information war waged by Russia, and created truthful sources of information about the events in Ukraine for the whole world.

Before becoming an animator Anatolii Surma studied to be a tractor driver, and even worked in a regional road service office. His passion for animation began with The Simpsons and South Park. And while American TV series are generally created by huge studios, the distinctly recognizable characters that make up this whole absurdist world come from the hand of an amateur artist from a village in Khmelnytskyi oblast (province). Anatolii Surma never writes scripts for his cartoons. The ones he does write end up in the oven. This is a documentary about the author of the visual identity of Docudays UA Festival 2021 that reveals the secrets behind his creative process, the source of ideas and the inspiration for Anatolii Surma.

Little kids, big dreams and smashingly good music – Dixieland follows the amazing progress of four members of a Ukrainian children’s brass band from Kherson. Through steady practice under the wildest of conditions, Roman (12, trumpet), Polina (10, trombone, drums and many other instruments), Nikita (12, drums) and Nikita (14, piano) produce magical music with ancient, wobbly instruments. Not least due to their wit and good humor, they persevere together, helped along by their 80+-year-old conductor and a young teacher. These children of the post-Soviet provinces use American tunes to achieve their dream – to become someone in the world and make something of their lives, no matter how dire the circumstances. From the authors of an awards winning documentary film Ukrainian Sheriffs.

Ukraine, goodbye! - Ukrainian film Almanac — a collection of short films about the acute social problem of Ukraine-emigration abroad. The collection includes 25 short films in Ukrainian or Russian.