Throughout April we received more than 60 applications from Ukrainian women artists to take part in this year’s interdisciplinary arts programme DOCU/SYNTHESIS. We are delighted to announce the selection results and present six projects that will be showcased during the 23rd Docudays UA, from 5 to 12 June.
Guided by programme curator Oleksandra Nabieva, the festival team has shaped this year’s project with the intention of strengthening women’s voices in wartime and framing contemporary realities through a feminist perspective.
The DOCU/SYNTHESIS-2026 programme will feature the following authors and their projects:
Kateryna Ruzhyna, Message in a Bottle — a documentary‑experimental work tracing intimate and shared ties to Ukraine’s vanished waters: the Black and Azov Seas, and the Kakhovka Reservoir.
Anna Shcherbyna, Scales — a short autofiction film in which a personal video archive, traumatic experience and experimental sound intertwine during a road trip along the Californian coast.
Teta Tsybulnyk, I am a Rock — an experimental film that explores the paradoxical relationship between nature, representation and language.
Kateryna Voznytsia, Broken Glass — a documentation of an animation experiment in the tradition of the “zoetrope cake”, reflecting the artist’s attempt to rediscover professional interest after a long pause and to weave creative exploration into everyday domestic routines.
Olena Hrom, Pietà — a short documentary film telling the story of a woman who lost her son in the war.
Svitlana Dovbush, And Where To Now — a multi‑episode video work created from footage shot on Ukraine’s eastern frontlines in 2022–2023, when the artist worked as a fixer for international journalists.
Selections were made strictly following the programme Regulations.
The full programme of screenings, events and discussions within the interdisciplinary arts strand will be announced shortly. Stay tuned for news on docudays.ua.
This project is supported by the British Council’s grant programme UK→Ukraine: Culture Sync.
