FILM
Showcasing a series of films from different eras and various directors that reveal the change that Ukraine and its people have been through over the last century.
Ukrainian Poetic Cinema: Rebuilding National Identity
October 23–29, 2025
“The main narrative model of this movement was the mythologized parable, which made it possible to convey the often complex and deep concept of the film in a laconic and figurative manner.”
Elena Rubashevska, Ukrainian Poetic Cinema
Following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, there was a temporary thaw in cultural policy across much of the Soviet sphere of influence in Europe. For the first time since 1934, when the official cultural doctrine of “socialist realism” was adopted, filmmakers were allowed to produce content tailored for regional audiences. In Ukraine, this led to the creation of works in a style dubbed by film critic Janusz Gazda as “Ukrainian poetic cinema.” In revolt against the linear, formulaic storytelling mandated for decades by the State, contributors to this movement developed an expressive cinematic language of their own, one distinctly Ukrainian in content and form. The movement was short-lived, flourishing in the 1960s and 1970s, with some important examples outside that period.
Ukrainian poetic cinema explores themes and stories from Ukrainian literature and folk cultures, especially from the western regions of Ukraine that were less affected by the Holodomor and less stifled by cultural erasure through Russification. Internationally, the most well-known of these films is Sergei Parajanov’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965). Other films from this movement were never allowed to enter international competitions by the Soviet regime; many did not reach audiences at all until the early 1990s. This series offers the chance to see two of the brightest examples of Ukrainian poetic cinema, in signature films by Yurii Illienko and Borys Ivchenko.
In the 1960s, producers at Dovzhenko Film Studio wanted to adapt every story in Mykola Hohol’s first collection, Evenings Near the Village of Dikanka (1832). Although considered a great avatar of Russian literature (and better known in the English-speaking world under the Russian name Nikolai Gogol), Hohol was in fact born and raised in Ukraine, where these stories are set. Only two of the project’s films were ever completed: Illienko’s The Eve of Ivan Kupalo (1968) and Ivchenko’s The Lost Letter (1972). Both films draw deeply from Ukrainian folk traditions and from the painful history of Ukraine. Soviet authorities objected to the expressions of Ukrainian identity and banned them immediately upon release.
Alina Senchenko
Series curator
Co-presented with Maple Hope Foundation and The Cinematheque
Funded (in part) by the Shevchenko Foundation Ukrainian Canadian Veterans Fund
FEATURED FILMS
Assister au changement : le cinéma ukrainien en période de bouleversements
Du 17 septembre au 8 octobre 2025
« Fort d'un formidable héritage cinématographique qui remonte aux débuts du cinéma, le pays a récemment connu un nouvel essor du cinéma d'auteur. » - Jonathan Romney, Sight and Sound
Le cinéma ukrainien a connu des débuts très difficiles. Pendant des décennies, il a été soumis aux directives strictes de l'appareil culturel soviétique, qui instrumentalisait le cinéma comme outil de propagande. Au cours des années 60, période connue sous le nom du « dégel » (Перебудова), les restrictions sur l'expression artistique ont été assouplies. Les cinéastes ukrainiens ont profité de cette nouvelle liberté pour développer un « cinéma poétique » dans lequel ils exploraient des questions plus personnelles liées à l'identité ukrainienne. Cette période a donné naissance à certains des films les plus célèbres et, sans doute, les plus remarquables du pays. Après le retour à l'indépendance de l'Ukraine en 1991, le cinéma ukrainien a souffert d'un sous-financement endémique jusqu'à son renouveau au début des années 2000, lorsque le gouvernement a commencé à allouer davantage de fonds à l'art et à la culture. Aujourd'hui, sous la contrainte d'une guerre non souhaitée, le cinéma ukrainien est à nouveau menacé sur le plan matériel.
Assister au changement offre un aperçu de l'évolution du cinéma ukrainien, depuis ses premières incarnations jusqu'aux œuvres récentes les plus notables. Les techniques et perspectives innovantes présentes dans les œuvres de cinéastes précurseurs tels qu'Alexandre Dovjenko, Dziga Vertov, Kira Mouratova, Larissa Chepitko, Sergueï Paradjanov et Youri Illienko ont contribué à définir le cinéma ukrainien, tout en influençant le cinéma mondial. De nouveaux talents, tels qu'Antonio Lukich, Nariman Aliev et Roman Bondarchuk, poursuivent ces trajectoires novatrices.
Échelonnés sur presque un siècle de cinéma, les films de ce cycle abordent des questions qui continuent de façonner l'Ukraine et la diaspora ukrainienne : la technologie, les changements générationnels, les bouleversements politiques et la guerre. À travers ces œuvres, les spectateur·rice·s peuvent entrevoir l'histoire complexe de la lutte incessante du peuple ukrainien pour son autodétermination. Assister au changement vise à mettre en lumière, à travers le cinéma, une région qui continue de lutter pour sa reconnaissance, son autonomie et la préservation de son patrimoine culturel.
Ce cycle a été élaboré à la Cinémathèque de Vancouver, dont l'équipe nous a apporté une aide et des conseils précieux.
Alina Senchenko
Commissaire du programme
Witnessing Change: Ukrainian Cinema in a Time of Turmoil
September 17th - October 8th, 2025
“Boasting a formidable cinematic heritage that stretches back to the early days of film, the country has recently seen a renewed flowering of auteur cinema.”
Jonathan Romney, Sight and Sound
This series originated at The Cinematheque in Vancouver and would not be possible without valuable guidance and support of its team.
Ukrainian cinema had a very difficult start. For decades, it laboured under the strict guidelines of the Soviet cultural apparatus, which instrumentalized cinema as a vehicle of propaganda. During the 1960s, a period known as the Thaw (Перебудова), restrictions on artistic expression were loosened. Ukrainian filmmakers used their newfound freedom to develop a “poetic cinema” in which they explored more personal questions of Ukrainian identity. This period produced some of the nation’s most famous and, arguably, greatest films. After Ukraine regained independence in 1991, Ukrainian cinema struggled with endemic underfunding until its revival in the early 2000s when the government began allocating more money for art and culture. Today, under the duress of an uninvited war, Ukrainian cinema is again under material threat.
“Witnessing Change” provides an overview of the evolution of Ukrainian cinema from its earliest incarnations to recent works of note. The innovative techniques and perspectives found in the work of pioneering directors such as Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Dziga Vertov, Kira Muratova, Larisa Shepitko, Sergei Parajanov and Yurii Illienko helped define Ukrainian cinema, just as they impacted cinema globally. Emerging talents, such as Antonio Lukich, Nariman Aliev, and Roman Bondarchuk, continue these pathbreaking traditions.
Spanning nearly a century of cinema, the films in this series touch on issues that continue to shape Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora: technology, demographic generations, political change, and war. Through these works, viewers can glimpse the complex history of the Ukrainian peoples’ ongoing struggle for self-determination. “Witnessing Change” aims to shine a cinematic light on a region that continues to strive for recognition, autonomy, and the preservation of its cultural heritage.
Alina Senchenko
Series curator
Co-presented
with Maple Hope Foundation and The Cinémathèque québécoise
Funded (in part) by the Shevchenko Foundation Ukrainian Canadian Veterans Fund
Partners:
FEATURED FILMS
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Witnessing Change: Ukrainian Cinema in a Time of Turmoil
Feb 1-22, 2024
“Boasting a formidable cinematic heritage that stretches back to the early days of film, the country has recently seen a renewed flowering of auteur cinema.”
Jonathan Romney, Sight and Sound
“Witnessing Change” provides an overview of the evolution of Ukrainian cinema from its earliest incarnations to recent works of note. The innovative techniques and perspectives found in the work of pioneering directors such as Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Dziga Vertov, Kira Muratova, Larisa Shepitko, and Sergei Loznitsa helped define Ukrainian cinema, just as they impacted cinema globally. Emerging talents, such as Antonio Lukich, Roman Blazhan, Nariman Aliev, and Roman Bondarchuk, continue these pathbreaking traditions.
Spanning nearly a century of cinema, the films in this series touch on issues that continue to shape Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora: technology, demographic generations, political revolution, and war. Through these works, viewers can glimpse the complex history of the Ukrainian peoples’ ongoing struggle for self-determination. “Witnessing Change” aims to shine a cinematic light on a region that continues to strive for recognition, autonomy, and the preservation of its cultural heritage.
Alina Senchenko
Series curator
Co-presented with Maple Hope Foundation and The Cinematheque
Funded (in part) by the Shevchenko Foundation Ukrainian Canadian Veterans Fund
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