The 2025 DOCU/UKRAINE national competition program will feature five documentaries that reflect the rapid evolution of contemporary Ukrainian cinema. Learn more about the selected films and their emotional depth in the curatorial article by Docudays UA program director Yulia Kovalenko.
In recent years, we’ve gotten used to seeing Ukrainian documentary films featured in the programs of the world’s most influential film festivals and among the nominees for major awards. Every year, at least a few Ukrainian documentaries appear on top-tier festival stages. Just a decade ago, it seemed like a distant prospect.
This leap has undoubtedly fuelled ongoing debates about the so-called Ukrainian film wave. Some film critics and industry professionals have already adopted the term to describe the current flourishing of national cinema. Others argue that it’s premature, noting that for it to be considered a true film wave, Ukrainian cinema still needs to develop a certain aesthetic, artistic coherence, and identity. Still others take a cautiously pragmatic stance, questioning whether the notion of a film wave truly reflects the state of national cinema—or whether it is, in fact, a construct shaped by the hierarchies of the festival circuit.
Whichever of these three camps you find yourself in, one thing is clear: Ukrainian documentary filmmakers are driving a dynamic cinematic movement, one that actively explores the potential of film language to make sense of the equally swift and turbulent times we are living through. This body of work is marked by an undercurrent of anxious premonitions and narratives, often unified by a focus on struggle as a process—often long, exhausting, but free of fatalism. And on subjectivity, as both a goal and a responsibility.
This year’s DOCU/UKRAINE program could be seen as a potent distillation of this cinematic world—complex, painful, yet defiantly alive and open to the future. In it, the protagonists—you, us, all of us—often find ourselves doing things no one should have to do in the world we are fighting for. Like a mother writing a diary for her son while defending his dreams on the front line, weapon in hand (My dear Theo by Alisa Kovalenko).
Still from My dear Theo
Like a family forced to choose between staying home or seeking refuge across the world (In Limbo by Alina Maksimenko). Like schools holding classes in subway stations, and graduates celebrating their last bell online because their city has been completely destroyed by Russian occupiers (Timestamp by Kateryna Gornostai). In the world we’re fighting for, there should never be terrified crowds rushing toward a train, trying to place at least the children and women into the carriages to save them from war (Songs of Slow Burning Earth by Olha Zhurba). In the world we’re fighting for, lovers should never have to say goodbye on train platforms before one of them goes off to war (Militantropos by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, and Simon Mozgovyi).
Still from Militantropos
But amidst all the pain and hardship, the directors of these films capture the boundless, life-affirming love that drives both the mother writing a diary for her son from the front lines (My dear Theo) and the daughter who stays with her parents as long as needed, while the neighboring houses slowly empty against the looming threat of danger (In Limbo).
Still from In Limbo
They capture the incredible resilience and dedication of schoolteachers who, despite all the challenges, find ways to continue educating new generations, striving for better conditions for them, and giving them the gift of childhood (Timestamp). Or the courage, and at the same time, the humanity of both adults and children who survived a harrowing experience yet remained unbroken (Songs of Slow Burning Earth).
Still from Songs of the Slow Burning Earth
Stubbornness – that processes all pain and reshapes everyday life and even the smallest priorities into a new worldview. A worldview in which the future remains open, and for which one must fight with all their might, at any cost (Militantropos).
If you're unable to attend the Docudays UA screenings, the second screening in Ukraine of the films Timestamp, Songs of Slow Burning Earth, and My dear Theo will take place at the Mykolaychuk OPEN festival in Chernivtsi, running from June 14 to 21.
Featured image: a still from Timestamp
The 22nd Docudays UA is held with the financial support of the European Union, the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, International Renaissance Foundation. The opinions, conclusions, or recommendations do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the governments, or organisations of these countries. Responsibility for the content of the publication lies exclusively with the authors and editors of the publication.
