The Hyphen

Reflection on the way the Soviet production system turns workers themselves into commodities.

In the Volyn region, in a monastery of the XVI century, an old people’s home is located. However, mental patients and former criminals also live there.

There is a rumor in the Kyiv musical community: once upon a time, in private conversation, Queen Elizabeth II mentioned Valentyn Silvestrov as one of her favorite composers of the modern age. The Royal Press Office hasn’t confirmed it, so no one knows for sure. But the stature of Silvestrov justifies this rumor. Highly respected by the world’s best music professionals, he remains a mystery for a wide audience. The documentary is far from a traditional biopic about a prominent person. It is an observation, a confession and, most of all, a story of great talent set against the backdrop of uncertain times.

Ivan Dziuba - literary critic, public figure, academician of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine - belongs to the "sixties". He fully takes care of all the miscalculations and unfulfilled promises of his generation. Reflects on why the illusions were lost and why so few dreams came true ... Let's see and listen to him with his wife Martha, a Lviv woman who was his guardian angel. Together - all life. Exactly as they are, the right is the definition - the conscience of the nation.

The film is based on the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, recorded by the Shoah Foundation, The Institue for Visual History and Education in Ukraine, between 1994 and 1998. It also features the stories of the Righteous Among the Nations, who helped Jewish children—and even entire families—to hide and survive. The film also explores the historical consequences of the events of the Second World War. Three female students from the Faculty of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University also feature in the film, transcribing the witnesses’ testimonies for the production. Their thoughts and comments lend the film a special resonance, reflecting the personal engagement of today’s young people with the tragic chapters of our country’s past.

Life of Hannusia and Dmytro, who have been married for over thirty years in a remote village hidden in the midst of the Carpathian Mountains, has changed since Dmytro lost his leg in the recent war in the East of Ukraine. But the couple stays resilient to all the hardship, cherish love to each other, their children and land, and remain unbroken and calm like the mountains around them.

The film is about the director’s mother, the movie actress Nina Antonova. Now she is 80. She has had hundreds of roles – big and small. It is a personal story about an honest and sad life, about self-sacrifice and freedom. Real fame as an actress came to her only once in her life. It was the leading role in the first Soviet colour TV series Varka’s Land. That was 45 years ago…

Ukraine, 24 February. A regular winter morning transforms into an extraordinary event, and everyday life becomes part of a great war. Time slows down and space shrinks. And while the familiar world is collapsing, it's still necessary to water the flowers and buy the cat food. Explosions, sirens, queues, shelters. Evacuation, roads, checkpoints, volunteering. To leave or to stay? Which direction to run? There's a river beyond the forest, and a bridge beyond it, but you can't see it. In case of heavy fog, try to follow the sounds. This essay-film, shot on a smartphone, attempts to capture the feeling of the 'here and now' at the end of February 2022, and to explore everyday life during the war.

A short documentary about the difficult relationship between so native people, but so different persons. The daughter Ania and her mother have opposing worldviews. Their intense conversation takes place on the eve of Easter. Ania tries to follow own moral compass and defends herself from the mother's religious pressure. However, mother obsessively forces Anna to go to the church on a day of Christ rise. Moreover, mother hears the voice of only her own faith, but doesn't hear the voice of her daughter. It seems, some word - and they will lose one another forever... Likely, just the ordinary human love between them can return the mutual understanding of the daughter with her mother.

A story about a unique Ukrainian settlement that has existed in Brazil for over a hundred years. Surrounded by a foreign culture and religion, Ukrainians preserve the traditions and language of their people.

A lonely man lives on the outskirts. The neighbors are afraid of him because they know that he is a former criminal investigator. Once a friend comes to him and asks for help in one thing. He promises, but ... at dawn they find the corpse of his friend. The prosecutor’s office opens a case that instructs the young investigator to conduct. But every day the number of suspects decreases - they die ...

A mysterious girl awakens in the lap of nature. Fascinated by a young man who unexpectedly enters her world, she goes after him into the city. As the megapolis slowly consumes her, the line between love and self-destruction begins to blur.

A propaganda film about V. Hrabovenko who fought in Afghanistan. The hero of the film talks to passengers on the train while in his native village. The film shows a military hospital in Dushanbe (Tajik SSR), where the wounded V. Grabovenko was treated. Surgeon Y. Vorobiev gives an interview.

Tells the story of the tragic events in Ukraine in 1932-33, the genocidal Great Famine or the Holodomor, and one Welshman's attempts to tell the world what was happening.

Meditative and quiet movie about transphormations of Dnipro river in Ukraine, that touches theme of collective versus individual rights, filmed in the dusk of USSR.