Although Ukrainian cinema enters the world market with difficulty, there are many interesting films that have already appeared on a screen, which are worthy of your time and attention, so we have selected a few interesting facts about Ukrainian cinema.
1. As all over the world, the first films in Ukraine were silent. Only in 1930 appeared the first sound documentary film by Dzyga Vertov “Symphony of Donbass”.
2. For about 70 years, Ukrainian cinema was part of the Soviet Union and was in every way limited to the framework of contemporary politics and censorship, but even in those days, there were films worth of international recognition.
3. Sergei Parajanov made the international breakthrough in 1964 with the film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” (Тіні забутих предків). The film won 39 international awards, 28 awards at film festivals in 21 countries.
4. The Ukrainian film industry over the past few years working with Bulgaria, Georgia, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and many other European countries. Ukrainian films are shown in cinemas around the world and start to participate in international film festivals.
5. The largest international film festival in Ukraine is the Kyiv International Film Festival “Molodist” ( Молодість), which was established in 1970 and takes place every year in October.
6. The first Ukrainian TV show “Царівна” appeared in 1994, created by the Ukrtelefilm Studio, and based on the novel by Olga Kobylyanska. The show had twenty episodes.
7. Ukraine has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1997, but the first official Ukrainian entries to the Academy Awards was with Oles Sanin’s movie “Mamay” in 2003.
8. Unfortunately, Ukrainians prefer to watch movies at home and go to a movie theater only 2-3 times a year. By comparison, Polish viewers visit cinemas about 3-4 times a year and American around 10.
9. According to the Ukrainian State Film Agency, in 2015, there are only 464 movie screens in Ukraine and a third of them are located in Kyiv.
10. From 2006 to 2011, only 16 films were released, and in 2010 not a single one. Most films had a limited distribution and not very popular, but after many years of stagnation in 2017-2018 were funded more than 100 films and some of them may pleasantly surprise you.
