The 2010s was a real renaissance in Ukrainian cinema. Ukrainian filmmakers—Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, Valentyn Vasyanovych, Nariman Aliev, Antonio Lukich, Marysia Nikitiuk, and others—have attracted attention in international film festivals. Their films have explored many topics, from a main theme of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine to family dramas and travel stories.
Although little is known about Ukrainian cinema abroad, it has great potential. Let’s take a look at the best Ukrainian movies of the 2010s, each of them signaling toward a very bright future for Ukrainian film.
The 2018 comedy-dramaVolcanofollows foreigner Lukas, who comes to Ukraine on an OSCE mission. In the Ukrainian village, Lucas meets an eccentric man named Vova, who shows Lucas the surreal world of the Ukrainian province.Volcanopremiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it won nine awards, including the awards at festivals in Brazil, Switzerland, and China. It is a beautifully crafted work, both poetic and funny at the same time.
6Human with a Stool
In 2004, director and traveler Leonid Kanter came up with a crazy idea; he decided to bring four stools from his Kyiv kitchen to the shores of the four oceans. Kanter and his friends, a group of friendly dreamers, set out on a journey with almost no money, and the 2019 documentary filmHuman with a Stooltells the story of their incredible adventure. Unfortunately, the film that was supposed to inspire people to create and live a meaningful life has a second heartbreaking meaning. After the expeditions to the Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Pacific oceans, Leonid Kanter returned to Ukraine and went to war in Donbas. In 2018, Kanter passed away, and his friends finishedHuman with a Stoolwithout him.
2014 was a turning point in the history of Ukraine. After the pro-democracy protests in Ukraine, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and began armed conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine. These events became a part of the Russo-Ukrainian war, which expanded significantly after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian cinema has never stayed away from these events. In the second half of the 2010s, many movies about Euromaidan, Crimea, Donbas were released.The social justice Netflix documentaryWinter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, Sergei Loznitsa’sMaidanandDonbass, and the drama about the Battle of Donetsk Airport,Cyborgs: Heroes Never Die,are just a few of them.
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Homewardis arguably one of the best films for understanding what was happening in Ukraine. Directed by Nariman Aliev, this 2019 drama was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.Homewardis a harrowing, emotional, and compelling story of a father, Mustafa, whose elder son died in the war. Mustafa and his younger son have to transfer the dead body from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, to their home in the Russian-occupied Crimea.Homewardhas all the texture of agreat road movie, but it is far deeper than many films of this genre.
4When the Trees Fall
When the Trees Fallpremiered at theBerlin International Film Festival, where the film’s director, Marysia Nikitiuk, was described as the wild new hope of Ukrainian cinema. The 2018 drama follows two cousins, 5-year-old Vitka, who rebels against her grandmother’s rules and dreams about fantasy worlds, and young Larysa, who loves a criminal and dreams of leaving the province. They are both searching for freedom. InWhen the Trees Fall, pain and brutal violence coexist with melancholy and surrealism. “I wanted to clash two realities: a childish and pure perception of the world full of magical potential as well as exhausted social norms”, Marysia Nikitiuk toldGirls Are Awesome.
Atlantiswon the main award at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival Horizons section, and is definitely one of the most original Ukrainian movies. Valentyn Vasyanovych’spost-apocalyptic dramais set in Ukraine in 2025, one year after the end of the war. The film follows a soldier suffering from PTSD named Sergiy.
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Sergiy lost his family and the meaning of life, but when he meets volunteer Katya, he sees that a better future is possible. Critics applauded the Vasyanovych movie, withVarietynoting, “this is a strong piece of poetically pure art-house cinema that finally offers a ray of hope for humanity’s future — not just the Ukraine’s, as this largely depoliticized statement is one of universal relevance”.
2My Thoughts Are Silent
My Thoughts Are Silentis an authentic and engaging film from Antonio Lukich’s, a comedy about two-meters-tall sound recordist Vadim, who has to record the voice of a very rare bird from Western Ukraine. To do this, Vadim goes on a trip with his mother, a taxi driver who likes Victoria Beckham. Their journey is full of conflicts and misunderstandings, but at the same time, jokes and warmth.My Thoughts Are Silentis a truly special and sincere film, which examines relationships between parents and children.
1The Tribe
Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi’s 2014 crime dramaThe Tribeis the most successful and rewarded Ukrainian movie to date; the film won 29 awards, including four awards at Cannes Film Festival.The Tribecan leave an audience as speechless as its own sound design. It is a really shocking, compelling, and sad film about the dark side of a school of the deaf.The Tribeis a contemporary silentmovie with no audible dialogue, as Slaboshpytskyi uses only sign language (eight years beforeCODAwon the Best Picture Oscar). The story follows Serhiy as he tries to find his place in the new boarding school, where everything is controlled by a brutal gang.
Now, Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi is working on thrillerThe TigerwithAlexander Skarsgård and Dane DeHaan in leadingroles. It is possible that after this film, the brilliant Ukrainian filmmaker will become known worldwide.
