Can’t make it to the festival in Kyiv but still want to see documentaries from this year’s program? Or maybe you’ve marked so many screenings and events that you’re not sure how to fit everything in?
We invite you to the DOCUSPACE online cinema, where from June 7 to 12, 20 films will be available to watch from home at a time that suits you. Here’s a detailed schedule and screening information.
From June 7, 10:00 to June 9, 09:59
The online cinema program will open with 8 films: from the national competition DOCU/UKRAINE (Traces by Alisa Kovalenko, co-directed with Marysia Nikitiuk), the international competition DOCU/WORLD (The Blessed Ones by Andriy Lysetskyy), special events (The Silence of Others by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar), as well as the non-competitive Ukrainian film program Strong Structures (short films Written Down as Father by Daria Kovalchuk, Apocalypse Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow and the Day After Tomorrow by Anastasiya Bonadyha, Ember by Vladyslav Kalenskyi, Balance by Luiza Kokora, Homecoming by Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk).
The film Traces by Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk had its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale. Its protagonists are women of extraordinary strength who, having survived sexual violence and torture during Russia’s military aggression from 2014 to the present, refuse to remain silent. United around the NGO SEMA Ukraine, led by activist and former captive of occupation forces Iryna Dovhan, they actively collect testimonies and information for investigations into Russian crimes. Their inner light and determination transform trauma into fuel for continued action and solidarity.
Meanwhile, The Blessed Ones by director Andriy Lysetskyy portrays the lives of contemporary Ukrainian artists during the full-scale invasion, capturing nuanced shifts and experiences within society. Mykyta Kadan, Daniil Nemyrovskyi, Mykhailo Alekseyenko, and Anton Hurin each begin in confusion amid the brutality of everyday war, and each find a new purpose that still leaves room for hope.
The special retrospective of the 2018 documentary The Silence of Others by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar is a cinematic portrait of the first attempt to bring to justice those responsible for crimes committed during Franco’s 40-year dictatorship in Spain (1939–1975), who for decades avoided punishment due to the 1977 Amnesty Law. The film sheds light on a painful past that Spain still struggles to confront, even decades after the dictator’s death.
A still from the film Written Down as Father
Returning to the Ukrainian context today, we often reflect on what truly underpins our resilience. Many Ukrainians have likely tried to answer the question from friends abroad: “How are you holding up?”. On what and of what we have built the strong structures that have enabled our country to mark its 35th Independence Day this year despite an extraordinarily challenging historical path? The short films in this selection explore the hidden sources of strength that help Ukrainians endure hardship and continue building a shared future.
From June 8, 10:00 to June 10, 09:59
The next day, 3 films will become available to viewers: The Illusion of a Quiet Night by Olha Chernykh from DOCU/UKRAINE, the debut feature by Maryna Nikolcheva One Day I Wish to See You Happy from Strong Structures, and Peace for Nina by Jeanne Dovhych from the festival’s main thematic program Simple Structures.
The Illusion of a Quiet Night by Olha Chernykh premiered internationally in April at the Visions du Réel festival in Switzerland. The film emerged from an experiment conducted last summer: four dozens of professional filmmakers and several hundreds of volunteers filmed and shared footage of one July night in Ukraine. Explosions, sleeplessness, searching for at least some safety in a bathroom, acute loneliness in an apartment emptied by loss of a loved one — and in the morning, a new day…
The autobiographical work One Day I Wish to See You Happy by Maryna Nikolcheva tells the story of the director’s relationship with her husband. Struggling with a midlife crisis, Max becomes obsessed with restoring an old car, turning the painstaking process of repair into a refuge from uncertainty. In an attempt to stay close to him, Maryna picks up a camera and begins filming him. Gradually, the act of filming itself becomes their way of communicating — a fragile language of love, care, and silent confrontation. It is a film about absence and separation — an intimate chronicle of two people trying to preserve connection in a world transformed by war.
Peace for Nina by Jeanne Dovhych is a documentary film about a mother whose life was shattered by war. Her son, Ihor Branovytskyi, one of the last defenders of Donetsk Airport, was tortured and executed by Russian-backed militants in 2015 while being held in captivity.
Haunted by grief, Nina begins a relentless search for truth and justice, meeting witnesses and her son’s comrades to reconstruct his final hours and take steps toward accountability. The film is a portrait of resilience and hope, showing how even the smallest steps toward justice can become a path to healing and how a mother’s love endures in a world overshadowed by violence.
From June 9, 10:00 to June 11, 09:59
On the third day of releases, you will be able to watch Don’t Ask Me If I Killed by Ukrainian director and servicemember Helena Maksyom. With sensitivity and deep empathy, she examines herself, her mother, and her fellow soldiers through the lens of her camera in the relentless flow of time: a difficult conversation with her closest person about joining the armed forces; training; heartbreaking evening calls between soldiers and their families; the anniversary of the full-scale war; more calls with her mother about her health; a new military rank; losses, losses, losses, and pain. No soul can withstand such a downpour — and will seek shelter. The director finds such warm islands in conversations with her comrades and in the brief moments when she can turn the camera toward herself.
From June 10, 10:00 to June 12, 09:59
On this day, watch Silent Flood by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk from DOCU/UKRAINE. The film had its world premiere in Amsterdam in autumn 2025 at IDFA. The director films a closed pacifist religious community living on the banks of the Dniester River. One of their key beliefs is refusing to take up arms. But what happens when the survival of the country — and the community itself — depends on the ability to resist armed aggression? How do they maintain a fragile balance between their beliefs and the urgent demands imposed by a major threat? Silent Flood becomes a slow yet anxious expedition with its protagonists in search of ways to protect themselves — from the Russian invader on one side, and from the collapse of their small universe on the other.
From June 11, 10:00 to June 12, 23:59
On the eve of the 23rd Docudays UA finale, one film from the national competition and six media works by Ukrainian women artists from the interdisciplinary art program DOCU/SYNTHESIS will be available online.
Where Everything Disappears by Oleksandr Tkachenko (DOCU/UKRAINE) premiered on the big screen in the international competition at FIPADOC in France in 2026. The footage was recorded by Dmytro Dokunov, a cameraman and servicemember. His smartphone camera becomes his companion in grappling with deeply personal questions from the moment of mobilization. A committed pacifist who, before 2022, lived in harmony with nature in a small rural community in Odesa region, he rethinks the necessity of defense and the nature of violence after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What is love in times of great violence, and how can one preserve the capacity to love after being at the very heart of darkness — where everything disappears in the sound of gunfire?
A still from the film And Where Now?
The feminist moving image program Her Lens. Ukrainian Focus includes the works Message in the Bottle by Kateryna Ruzhyna, Scales by Anna Shcherbyna, Broken Glass by Kateryna Voznytsia, And Where Now? by Svitlana Dovbush, Pietà by Olena Hrom, and I Am a Rock by Teta Tsybulnyk. Selected through an open call, these projects reflect on loss, trauma, struggle, modes of expression, corporeality, and motherhood.
All screenings will remain available for seven days from the moment a ticket is activated. Ticket prices are 80 UAH for feature-length films and 40 UAH for short films. Please note that online screenings are available only within Ukraine.
To ensure accessibility, all films will include descriptive subtitles and audio description (except for One Day I Wish to See You Happy and The Silence of Others).
Main photo: a still from the film The Silence of Others
The 23rd Docudays UA is held with financial support from the European Union, the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, and the State Film Agency of Ukraine. The views, conclusions, or recommendations expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the governments of these countries. Responsibility for the content lies solely with the authors.
