From 24 September to 31 October, we will make 3 films from the DOCU/CLUB Network collection available for free viewing in the DOCUSPACE online cinema. Let us tell you about the School DOCU/WEEK initiative, under which the screenings wsill take place, and share why it is so warm and important to us.

For more than 10 years, the DOCU/CLUB Network team of the Docudays NGO has been engaging communities, active organisations, cultural and educational institutions from cities, towns and villages all over Ukraine in screening and discussing human rights documentaries. A separate project, the School DOCU/WEEK, is connected with schools, lyceums and gymnasiums, aiming to raise awareness of human rights among students. 

We feel the need to stay in touch with educational institutions that are located in the frontline zones of Ukraine or, due to various conditions of martial law, cannot meet together offline. That is why we want to share our love for documentaries through the DOCUSPACE online cinema. We publish the films from the film club collection Tales of a Toy Horse, The Language and Euromaidan SOS so that everyone can watch them for free. We invite not only teachers and students to watch them, but also viewers who are interested in our film programme.

This year, the topic of the School DOCU/WEEK project will be human rights and volunteering. Since the beginning of the armed aggression against our country, the volunteer movement in Ukraine has united Ukrainian society and made it more resilient to the difficulties caused by the war and the crisis. Volunteers play an important role in overcoming global social problems, they support our soldiers and people affected by the aggressor, protect human rights and freedoms, and take an active part in the country's recovery. 

Tales of a Toy Horse by Uliana Osovska and Denys Strashnyi tells the story of Anatoliy Liutiuk, a former anti-Soviet activist, now an artist and a monk living among the laity in an old stone tower in the heart of Tallinn. He prays for nature every day and creates handmade books in his own workshop. Many years ago, Anatoliy made a vow to find something good in every day. The outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war forced him to leave the peaceful Estonian capital and go to the frontline towns on a volunteer mission. Since 2014, he has been travelling to Donbas to deliver humanitarian aid, where his vow is tested by the reality of the grey zone.

Directed by Serhiy Lysenko, The Language immerses the viewer in the context of Ukraine in 2015–2016, but raises a still living and relevant issue. According to the description, in the East and South of Ukraine, many people do not speak Ukrainian. Activists organise free courses for everyone, as well as bring book fairs, music bands, and meetings with writers to cities and towns. "If there are more books in the East and people read them, then maybe we won't have to buy bulletproof vests anymore..." says Anastasiya Rozlutska, the film's protagonist. The elderly course participant said: "I want to learn the Ukrainian language so that no one else will think of 'protecting' me just because I speak Russian."

Serhiy Lysenko's Euromaidan SOS was also filmed in 2015–2016; this film, however, deals with the human rights dimension. Oleksandra Matviychuk, one of the film's protagonists, a well-known human rights activist in Ukraine, head of the Centre for Civil Liberties, Nobel Peace Prize winner, tells how the day after the students were beaten on the Independence Square on 30 November 2013, activists opened a hotline for the victims and another for volunteer lawyers. In this way, they provided legal services and defence in courts for the protesters. Today, the NGO monitors war crimes, engages in international advocacy and fights for the release of political prisoners and prisoners of war. 

Each film will be available for viewing with audio description and Ukrainian subtitles. 

More information about the DOCU/CLUB Network can be found at http://docuclub.docudays.ua, as well as on its Facebook and Instagram pages.

Photo: stills from Tales of a Toy Horse, The Language and Euromaidan SOS.

This publication was prepared with the financial support of the German Marshall Fund of the United States of America. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Docudays NGO and do not necessarily reflect the views of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.