Mamay (Мамай) is a 2003 Ukrainian drama considered one of the highlights of recent independent Ukrainian filmmaking. It is a new entry in the ancient Ukrainian tradition of stories about the Cossack Mamay. The story of Mamay is one of the foundational legends of Crimean and Cossack culture, and Mamay appears in a wide range […]

Brothers. The Last Confession (Брати. Остання сповідь) is a 2013 Ukrainian drama film. Though its source material—the novel Sweetness by Swedish writer Torgny Lindgren—is foreign, the film adaptation has turned it into a fully Ukrainian work of art. The film tells the story of two brothers, Voytko (Войтко, played by Oleg Mosiychuk, Олег Мосійчук) and Stanislav (Станіслав, […]

Aurora (Аврора) is a 2006 Ukrainian drama that puts a human face on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The film is in both Russian and Ukrainian. The film takes place in the 1980s and tells the story of adolescent Aurora (played by Анастасія Зюркалова), who lives in an orphanage in Pripyat, Ukraine (Прип’ять), and dreams of […]

Illusion of Fear (Ілюзія страху) is a 2008 Ukrainian drama/thriller film. It is the screen adaptation of a novel by Oleksandr Turchynov (Олександр Турчинов), a Ukrainian politician—he is currently the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, and was the acting president of Ukraine after Yanokovych’s ouster, before Poroshenko took office. In terms of […]

Firecrosser (Той, хто пройшов крізь вогонь; also written ТойХтоПройшовКрізьВогонь, or “one who passes through fire” when translated directly) is a Ukrainian drama/adventure film from 2011. The film is based on the life story of Ivan Datsenko (Іван Даценко)—or rather, the version of his life that a comrade-in-arms supposedly uncovered. (You can’t make this stuff up, after all.) […]

Battle for Sevastopol (Битва за Севастополь in Russian; Незламна (The Enduring) in Ukrainian) is based on true events. It tells the story of Soviet Ukrainian Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a university student who was drafted into the Red Army after the German invasion of the USSR during World War II. As a member of the 25th Rifle […]