Cinema of the Donbas: a guide to the Ukrainian East
To accompany our interview about the Donbas on the Klassiki Podcast, we present this special playlist.
The Donbas is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood parts of Ukraine. This resource-rich region in the east of the country was celebrated as the industrial heartland of the Soviet Union, but since 2014 has become synonymous with destruction and war after more than a decade of Russian aggression and occupation. It’s a region that has been subject to much controversy, within Ukraine as well as internationally, but its vibrant and diverse history is too often overlooked. On a recent episode of the Klassiki Podcast, we spoke with academic and writer Victoria Donovan about her new book on the Donbas, Life in Spite of Everything: Tales from the Ukrainian East, about moving past the clichés and providing a human perspective on events. For Klassiki subscribers, here is an exclusive playlist featuring some of the films discussed on the show.
Listen to our podcast interview with Victoria here and buy her book here.
Read an interview with Freefilmers here and explore their activism here.
Explore documentary material from the Donbas in the Urban Media Archive here.
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Enthusiasm
Directed by Dziga Vertov • 1931 • USSR/Ukraine
A radical early sound film from the grandfather of non-fiction, Dziga Vertov’s Enthusiasm captures Ukraine’s Donbas in the throes of revolutionary transformation. Vertov’s vision of industrialisation in motion verges on abstract reverie, taking the ...
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Little Vera
Directed by Vasili Pichul • 1988 • USSR/Russia
A scandal upon release, this hugely influential eighties cult film captures the anguished cynicism of the “last Soviet generation”. Vera (the name means “faith” in Russian, hence the pun of the title) is a teenager in a provincial port town whose da...
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Grey Bees
Directed by Dmytro Moiseiev • 2024 • Ukraine
January, 2022, on the eve of the Russian invasion. Retired miners Serhiich (Viktor Zhdanov) and Pashka (Volodymyr Yamnenko) are the sole remaining residents of a Donbas village in the “grey zone” between Ukrainian and pro-Russian forces. Cut off from ...
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We Will Not Fade Away
Directed by Alisa Kovalenko • 2023 • Ukraine
Alisa Kovalenko’s collective portrait of teenagers in the Donbas just prior to the full-scale invasion is a moving tribute to a world of opportunity now lost to military aggression. Andriy, Illia, Lera, Liza, and Ruslan have come of age in a world whe...
