This year, the Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival will present the inaugural Viktor Onysko Memorial Award for Best Editing in a Ukrainian documentary film. The award honours the memory of the accomplished filmmaker and close friend of the festival, who joined the defence of Ukraine during the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Over the course of his career, Viktor worked on more than 20 films and edited music videos and trailers, including for Docudays UA. His final projects were Fragments of Ice by Maria Stoianova and The Editorial Office by Roman Bondarchuk — both released with a dedication to his memory. In 2024, Olga Birzul, film curator and Viktor’s wife, also published the commemorative non-fiction book for teenagers Your Book About Cinema.
In March 2022, he voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Serving with the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, he fought in the Kherson and Donetsk regions. Despite having no prior military experience, he quickly became a commander with the call sign ‘Tarantino’. Viktor was killed in action near Soledar on 30 December 2022. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit, Third Class, and the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Third Class.
About the Award and the Jury
From this year onwards, the annual prize will be awarded to feature-length films created by Ukrainian film editors and directors. Thanks to the support of ARTE, the winner will receive a €1,000 prize. The jury of the Award consists of:
Roman Bondarchuk — filmmaker, screenwriter, Docudays UA Art director, and Shevchenko National Prize laureate;
Olha Zhurba — filmmaker, screenwriter, film editor, and member of the European Film Academy;
Olga Birzul — author, film curator, cultural manager, and advocate for film education.
Festival Discussion Programme
To mark the establishment of the Award, a discussion entitled When Cinema Remembers: How Documentary Films Preserve the Names of the Fallen will be held within the RIGHTS NOW! human rights programme. The participants will explore initiatives that sustain the presence of filmmakers who have been killed, and their place in contemporary culture. The event is organised in partnership with the Memory Platform Memorial.
The discussion will feature:
Olga Birzul — co-founder of the Viktor Onysko Memorial Award;
Ivanna Slobodianiuk — founder of FELIX PRODUCTION, created in memory of the fallen aerial reconnaissance soldier Felix Kurtanych;
Anastasiia Tykha — initiator of projects dedicated to preserving the memory of filmmakers;
Liudmyla Fylypovych — founder of the Ruslan Ganushchak Documentary Foundation.
The conversation will be moderated by Haiane Avakian, journalist and co-founder of the Memorial Platform.
When: 6 June, 14:30
Where: Zhovten Cinema, Sweet Life Hall
Kostiantyn Huzenko. Photo: Valentyn Kuzan
On this day at the festival, next to the photo exhibition Transitional State in memory of photographer and marine infantry soldier Kostiantyn Huzenko, a space hosted by the Memory Platform Memorial will be open. The joint installation They Are Missing Here invites visitors to leave portraits of fallen defenders in tribute to their memory.
