15 new Ukrainian movies worth watching

In recent decades, modern Ukrainian cinema has begun to develop rapidly. And this is despite the war, which has been going on in the country for the ninth year. Of course, it is precisely for this reason that there are a lot of films about war because, century after century, we have to fight for our right to freedom and independence. So let’s watch domestic and support yellow and blue cinema.

I have collected modern Ukrainian movies that everyone should watch in this article. Many of them have received several international awards, and one will even be nominated for an Oscar next year.

Modern Ukrainian movies

Butterfly Vision, 2022

The film was directed by Maksym Nakonechny in the genre of military drama. It was presented to the audience for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival and received an award as the best film at the Serbian Film Festival.

The plot: an aerial scout of a volunteer battalion with the call sign “Butterfly” spends two months in enemy captivity. After returning home, the girl realizes she is pregnant after being raped by the supervisor. A woman decides to have an abortion because she does not understand how to raise a child from the enemy, but at the last moment, she begins to hesitate about whether this is the right decision.

Klondike, 2022

This movie can be confidently called the main modern Ukrainian film of this year because it has already been nominated for the “Oscar” film award. The premiere occurred at Sundance’s independent film festival (founded by actor and director Robert Redford).

The plot: the film tells about the life of a young family that found itself at the epicenter of the events of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash on July 17, 2014, in Donbas. Anatoly and Iryna expect the birth of their first child, but the war violently breaks into their lives. The girl refuses to evacuate, even when the village is captured by invading troops. Then a plane is shot down, where hundreds of foreign citizens die, and an enemy missile demolishes one of the walls of the newlyweds’ house.

«Viddana», 2020

Feature film based on the novel “Felix Austria” by the famous Ukrainian writer Sofia Andruhovych. The author herself took part in writing the script of the picture. The movie was filmed near Kyiv, where a whole historic town was specially built: Ivano-Frankivsk, modeled at the beginning of the 20th century. More than 1,000 costumes from those times were collected and recreated for filming.

The plot: the film’s events occur at the end of the 19th century in the Austro-Hungarian Ukraine in Stanislaviv. Dr. Unger loses his wife in the fire, but he manages to save two girls: his daughter Adele and the daughter of domestic worker Stefania. For 25 years, a man has been raising girls together. One gets married, and the other runs the household. Despite mutual love, young women do not understand who they are to each other: sisters or mistress and servant.

Pamfir, 2022

The film by the Ukrainian director Dmytro Suholytky-Sobchuk was presented at the 54th Cannes Film Festival for the first time. In addition to professional actors, residents of the area where the film was made were involved in filming. At the Serbian Film Festival, the film won the award for best direction.

The plot: events take place in Western Ukraine during the annual Malanka carnival. Due to a difficult life, a decent family man, Pamfir, has to deviate from the honest path to save his family. His son sets fire to the prayer house. To get him out of trouble, the man has to cooperate with people from his past.

The Rising Hawk, 2019

A movie of Ukrainian-American production based on the story of the same name by Ivan Franko. The film was shot in English and played in cinemas with Ukrainian dubbing. The central role of Zakhar Berkut is played by Robert Patrick (“Terminator”, “The X-Files”).

The plot: events took place in 1241. The Mongol horde led by the khan is moving west. The army stops at the foot of the Carpathians. Several local hunters, including the Berkut brothers, sneak into the camp to free the captives at night. Khan decides to destroy the Carpathian settlements with the help of a traitor among the locals, who reveals to him a secret passage in the mountains.

“Prayer for Hetman Mazepa”, 2001

This movie by the famous Ukrainian director Yuriy Illenko with Bohdan Stupka in the lead role, is included in the list of the 100 best Ukrainian films of all time. The film was first presented at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002. In Russia, its viewing was prohibited by the Ministry of Culture. In 2010, a new version of “Prayer” was released with modern multi-channel sound and comments by the director of the events described in the film.

The plot: “Prayer” is a sharp dialogue between two historical antagonists Peter I, who mocks the grave of Hetman Mazepa. And Mazepa rises from the grave to talk to Peter I.

Gareth Jones, 2019

The film was shot based on real events in cooperation with three countries: Ukraine, Poland, and Great Britain, based on the script of Ukrainian-born journalist Andrea Chalupa. It highlights the terrible events of the Holodomor.

The plot: the main character is the Welsh reporter Gareth Jones (played by James Norton), who manages to get an interview with Hitler, secretly comes to Ukraine, and encounters with his own eyes all the horrors of the life of Ukrainians of those times. Its main goal is to find out where the scoops get so much money when the country is in the midst of a crisis. Jones understands that the USSR is a giant soap bubble where people are dying of hunger.

Rhino, 2021

The film by Ukrainian director Oleh Sentsov, premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.

The plot: the events of the film take place in Ukraine in the 1990s. A bandit nicknamed “Rhino” falls into the grip of the Ukrainian criminal world. From there, he begins his bloody journey that changes his life forever.

“Another Franko”, 2021

The historical film directed by Ihor Visnevskyi and Vitaly Malakhov, tells about the fate of Ivan Franko’s son Peter. During filming, the film’s creators consulted with the descendants of the Franko family.

The plot of the biographical movie is based on the life of one of the founders of the Plast organization, a pilot and founder of aviation in the Galician army, a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR, Petro Franko. He was repressed by the treacherous Soviet authorities and sent to Siberia. On the way to the place of exile, the man died under mysterious circumstances.

“Hajibey Fortress”, 2020

A Ukrainian-Turkish-Georgian movie was filmed at the Odesa Film Studio and in the Belgorod-Dniester fortress. In the film’s center is the fate of the Cossack Andriy, who must convey important information to Istanbul and free the father of his beloved, the Turkish beauty Fatima, from prison. Turkish model Deren Talu played her.

The plot: events took place in the 18th century. Russia is fighting against the Ottoman Empire. At this time, the Cossacks are allies of the Ottomans. When important military information falls into their hands, the chieftain must pass it on to the Sultan. Ahmet Pasha, the commandant of the last Turkish fortress of Hajibey, can help with this. Andriy should deliver the letter to him. But the fortress is captured by Russian troops.

“My Thoughts Are Silent”, 2019

Antonio Lukich’s debut tragicomedy movie is included in the 100 best Ukrainian films of all time (No. 20 on the list). It was presented at 70 male film festivals. Film raises eternal problems of parents and children.

The plot: loser Vadim, a professional sound engineer, goes on a trip to Transcarpathia to fulfill an order from a client from Canada. He should record the voices of rare animals and birds of the Ukrainian fauna. And it wouldn’t matter, but his mother is going with him.

“I, Pobeda and Berlin”, 2022

Director Olga Ryashina made a film based on the novel of the same name by the musician Kuzma Skryabin. Filming was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the State Agency of Ukraine for Film Affairs.

The plot: the action of the picture takes place in the 90s. A few days before the concert, unknown musician Kuzma Skryabin is going with a friend to Berlin in an old “Pobeda” because it seems that there is a collector there who wants to exchange the Soviet car for the 600th “Mercedes”. Kuzma is going to return to the performance in a new car, but everything does not go according to his plan.

“Tribe”, 2014

Ukrainian-Dutch film in the genre of criminal drama. It was released in dozens of countries and was presented at more than 100 film festivals around the world, where it received more than 40 awards, including the European Film Prize and three prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. “Tribe” became the first Ukrainian film to be released in many countries around the world.

The plot: in the center of events is a young guy Serhiy, who arrives at a boarding school for the deaf, where he joins the criminal group “Tribe” and falls in love with a girl, Anya.

“Firecrosser”, 2012

Ukrainian biographical film directed by Mykhailo Ilyenko. The prototype of the main character is the ace pilot of the Second World War, senior lieutenant Ivan Datsenko.

The plot: the film tells about the fate of a boy from the Poltava region, Ivan Dodoka, who becomes a Soviet military pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union. Fate unfolds in such a way that he has to go through German captivity, and Soviet camps, and eventually, by the will of fate, get to Canada, where he becomes the leader of an Indian tribe.

“When trees fall”, 2018

The picture was shot in collaboration with Ukraine, Macedonia, and Poland. The movie became the fourth full-length film in modern Ukrainian films, where the actors speak in Surzhyk.

The plot: the film’s events take place in the Ukrainian province, where the story of the rebellious Vitka, her teenage cousin Larisa and her beloved young bandit Shram unfolds.