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This article was first published on August 19th, 2024.

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The History of Ukrainian Documentary Cinema (Part III)

Detail from a frame of \"Intercepted\" (2024)

A lack of funding often pushes contemporary Ukrainian directors to work with archives. This can be cheaper than documenting live events, and it helps uncover more about national history and reinterpret past experiences. Director Taras Spivak conducted such research to create Under the Sign of the Anchor. In this film, he aimed to construct an alternative version of history where the Cold War did not end. Spivak satirises the Soviet army and military-industrial complex (or “war machine”) and what remains of it while simultaneously illustrating how frightening and absurd it can be. Under the Sign of the Anchor is based on archival materials from the times of the USSR’s collapse and the early years of Ukraine’s independence, focusing on the Kyiv Higher Military-Political School and the “Kyiv” Soviet aircraft carrier.

Frame from the film Under the Sign of the Anchor.

As a director, Taras says that he would like to see more similar films in Ukraine. Working with archives has many advantages and makes documentary filmmaking more accessible. This is especially important in times of war, when searching for life’s meanings is still necessary, and major resources are directed towards supporting the army.

“Archives are such a quick entry into this (documentary filmmaking — ed.). […] In this sense, archival and montage filmmaking in general has a very convenient economy as a method of organisation. It’s often inexpensive […] because it can be done without the efforts of dozens of people, unlike live action filmmaking, which requires hundreds of people. And it can be very impressive, very effective in what it does.”

Taras also believes that it’s not just about having more interest in archives, but also caring for them responsibly. While archival filmmaking can be inexpensive, preserving and restoring film quality can have significant costs. Taras and his friends found the material for Under the Sign of the Anchor in the attic of the National Film Archive of Ukraine (formerly known as Kyivnaukfilm/Київнаукфільм). During the summer of 2021, the director catalogued 12,000 film reels that were stored in inadequate conditions.

Frame from the film Under the Sign of the Anchor

Another reason for Taras’s decision to work with archives is that he doesn’t want to speculate on the theme of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Ukrainian society cannot yet distance itself from this reality, so the ways in which it is documented naturally evolve. For instance, Taras notices that journalists are increasingly using wide shots of mutilated bodies and other consequences of the war instead of close-ups.

“I understand those documentary filmmakers very well because I’ve also seen the documentation of horrors. And I have only one thought about them. If this documentation aims at some kind of fight for justice, if they serve as legal evidence, then it makes sense indeed. But if it’s about personal ambitions or artistic intentions and so on, I think it’s somewhat inappropriate.”

Taras says it remains challenging to abstract oneself away from realities in order to live and comprehend them. In his view, working with archives helps us reassess the biases and perceptions of a specific historical period that we continue to carry with us:

“In the future, after dismantling the structure currently known as the ‘Russian Federation’, we will have both the right and the privilege to claim these archives. For our history, for the history of our ancestors.”

Frame from the film Under the Sign of the Anchor

Despite limited funding and other challenges, Ukrainian documentary films are increasingly making their way to international film festivals. These films speak not only to Ukrainians, who share a common trauma, but also engage Western audiences who may not be as familiar with the realities of armed aggression. In March 2024, Ukrainian film director and war journalist Mstyslav Chernov and his team received Ukraine’s first Oscar in the Best Documentary category for 20 Days in Mariupol. This film depicts Russia’s siege of the city in February-March 2022.

Such victories provide a platform to counter Russian propaganda, showing the world that Russia remains imperialistic by nature and continues to perpetrate genocide.

Director Oksana Karpovych works within this context, using intercepted conversations between occupiers and their families in her film Intercepted. The film is accompanied by footage from de-occupied Ukrainian cities and villages. It received two awards at the Berlin Film Festival: the Special Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in the Forum section (for artistic quality and addressing religious, social, and humanitarian issues) and a Special Mention from the Amnesty International jury.

Full frame from the film Intercepted (2024)

During the premiere, international audience members often questioned the authenticity of the recordings.

Some people claimed the director cooperated with the Ukrainian special services and intentionally distorted reality. However, Oksana Karpovych maintains that she approached the material primarily as a film director and aimed to show this Ukrainian reality to foreigners. She emphasised that some participants in the recordings were identified.

“My position as a film director is transparent,” says Oksana. “I acknowledge (and declare in the film) the nature of these recordings. I also understand that their online publication for a wide audience was part of Ukraine’s information war. […] Everything we hear in these recordings corresponds to the reality we live in.

In Ukraine, we don’t need intercepted communications to know that the Russian army kills civilians, rapes women and children, loots, and uses prohibited weapons – we already have plenty of documented testimonies and evidence of this.”

Frame from the film Intercepted (2024)

Despite the audience’s prejudice, Oksana Karpovych observed that her film did influence the audience, prompting them to view Russia from a new perspective distinct from its cultural propaganda or diplomatic ties.

“Intercepted raises a series of questions that perhaps the German audience hadn’t considered before,” she says. “It addresses the awareness of ordinary Russian citizens, the overall standard and quality of life in Russia, the hierarchy of their army, the culture of looting, even the nature of the Russian language and its relevance to what is happening. Making people in the West talk about Russia in the context of violence and imperialism rather than just ‘ballet’ is an achievement for me.”

The different stages of Russian aggression are a significant theme in Ukrainian documentary filmmaking, but they aren’t the only one. Such films can also serve as acts of activism and portraits of genius (Infinity According to Florian‘ by Oleksii Radynskyi), requiems to the 1960s through the fate of a couple (Ivan and Marta by Serhii Bukovsky), or quests to find one’s own place in the world (Elevation by Maksym Rudenko). The premiere of the latter took place at the Docudays UA festival.

Maksym Rudenko began work on his film long before the full-scale invasion. He met the main character, Vasyl, during the filming of his previous feature-length film, A Portrait on the Background of Mountains (2019). Vasyl is a ski jumping coach who found his life’s purpose. Maksym didn’t want this man’s story to be lost, so he decided to dedicate a separate film to it.

“This is not just a story about ski jumping; it’s about how important it is to find your place in the world and pursue your calling. The main character embodies this message 100%. He knows he’s doing what he’s meant to do. It’s such a unique case that I tell through this character, about the power of choice in life.”

Frame from the film A Portrait on the Background of Mountains

The director and his team went on expeditions to the Carpathian Mountains over five years. To capture the life of the coach and his trainees realistically, Maksym and Vasyl lived in the same room, attended training sessions together, and communicated constantly throughout the day. The protagonist was open to the camera and almost ignored it. Due to his close bond with the coach and his desire to depict as much as possible, editing the film was challenging, admits the director. Additionally, each frame involved a lot of physical work — equipment could sometimes be carried up to 25 kilometres in the mountains. In such cases, according to Maksym, editing directors who are not involved in the filming can help better identify the strengths and weaknesses of the material. The whole team plays a crucial role in documentary filmmaking:

“Everything depends on the team in documentary filmmaking. Sometimes, it may be a very simple shoot, just some interesting idea, but the team can develop these ideas to such a perfect state that it becomes a great film. Because filmmaking is always about both the idea and how it’s executed.”

Frame from the film A Portrait on the Background of Mountains

Maksym has noticed that the global film industry has grown tired of war. Initially, international festivals rejected his film Elevation due to its peaceful subject matter, but now the situation has changed — the Western film community wants to see pleasant images. For himself, the director has decided not to film about the war right now (the events are too vivid), but to go and fight. He calls on his colleagues to join the ranks of Ukrainian defenders.

“Now is not the time for art, but the time for war, at least for men,” Maksym says. “I don’t understand men who are filming something now. Those who know the military situation, they know that our country is one step away from [the threat of ceasing] its existence. If everyone here doesn’t come together, there won’t be any country left.”

Maksym doesn’t know if he will continue his career as a documentarian, but he wants to show Elevation to audiences. While watching the film, it is difficult to clearly identify if it stemmed from a specific initial idea. As often happens with documentary films, the meanings are mostly shaped during editing. In this case, during filming, the director was motivated not by a final idea for his own work, but by his impressions of another film by a Lithuanian director about a woman living in the mountains.

“[…] Even when you think there’s nothing around to film, because the mountains are quite monotonous, you still understand that you are now shooting through a small hole with the camera, and then it will be on the big screen and there will be sound. I can’t say that I really wanted to know so much about sports, about this character. It’s research. You don’t know what will happen to him. It’s basically reconnaissance by combat. You don’t know if you’ll finish the film.”

Frame from the film A Portrait on the Background of Mountains

The future of Ukrainian documentary cinema is hard to predict, but it remains crucial for this art form to capture reality as it is here and now. Contemporary documentary cinema can speak about events that happened yesterday or a hundred years ago, explore personal or national themes, provoke discussions, and drive social change. Throughout its existence, the work of documentarians has been challenging yet essential, as it preserves reality — a particularly valuable task when many Ukrainian archives of past centuries are now in Russia.

Today, film crews continue this work under the conditions of full-scale war, often risking their lives. Therefore, the best support for them and for Ukrainian cinema in general is viewership.

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The 920th day of a ten year invasion that has been going on for centuries.

One day closer to victory.

🇺🇦 HEROYAM SLAVA! 🇺🇦