We invite viewers to the closing event of Docudays UA under the slogan Long Live Rare Resources!. A screening and discussion of four short films will take place on March 3 at Zhovten Cinema as part of our communication campaign “Rare Resource.” Below, we share details of the film selection and its driving force in a curatorial statement by Yulia Kovalenko, Director of the Programming Department at Docudays UA.
“This year, on February 24, Ukrainians mark for the fourth time the anniversary of the full-scale war, now totaling twelve years of Russia’s military aggression against our country. We are living through perhaps the most difficult winter — following one of the bloodiest years for civilians in the country, according to UN monitoring data. A shift in the geopolitical course of one of Ukraine’s key partners, the United States, has clearly contributed to a significant escalation of Russian attacks throughout 2025–2026. It also seems to have shaken the global order. Lately, there has often been a sense that humanity has reached a dead end — a new disorder in which familiar reference points blur and shared values collapse. What only yesterday seemed a model of democratic governance today becomes a new source of authoritarian danger.
In this half-light, it is crucial to stand together with those who still share common values.
To believe in these values and defend them.
A still from the film There Are People in the Forest
Our special March event is dedicated to the values of participatory democracy, the foundations of a democratic society and coexistence — those that remain our constant guide even in the most difficult times. To shine a bright spotlight on various aspects of democratic participation, we invited four European film festivals to jointly curate a selection of short films. We are connected to these platforms through a shared networking experience: the Krakow Film Festival, with which we co-develop the Docs4Teens network and which warmly opened its doors in 2022 to host our national DOCU/UKRAINE competition; Germany’s oldest documentary film festival, DOK Leipzig, and Switzerland’s Visions du Réel, with which we spent 2024 as a guest festival of the Doc Alliance network; and one of Europe’s largest documentary film festivals — the Czech One World, with which we are also connected through the Human Rights Film Network.
A still from the film Going South
Each of these festivals nominated one film that participated in their programs and highlights fundamental principles of participatory democracy — from fostering civic engagement (Going South, nominated by Visions du Réel) to empathy as the foundation of coexistence in society (There Are People in the Forest, nominated by the Krakow Film Festival); from defending freedom of speech as a powerful force within a democratic society (At All Hours and None, nominated by DOK Leipzig) to responsibility and the fight against dangerous propaganda narratives (Long Live Death, nominated by One World).
A still from the film Long Live Death
Ukraine is fighting for its freedom and democratic future at a terrible cost. And no matter how deep the darkness that descends upon the Earth, these values must serve as our guiding light — nourishing us with strength and hope. Giving us the resources to move forward and to fight. Resources that are increasingly becoming true treasures and allow us to recognise and defend the value of the human being as the greatest of them all. So long live rare resources!”
A still from the film At All Hours and None
As part of the March 3 event, we will share the results of the 22nd Docudays UA, the 22nd Traveling Docudays UA, as well as the inter-festival events of the Rare Resource campaign. The program will include an exclusive screening of four short films exploring the broader European discourse on democracy.
Film program:
Going South — dir. Alan Sahin, Switzerland, 2024, 16 min
Festival: Visions du Réel (Switzerland)
At All Hours and None — dir. Davide Minotti, Valeria Miracapillo, Italy, 2023, 19 min
Festival: DOK Leipzig (Germany)
There Are People in the Forest — dir. Szymon Ruczyński, Poland, 2023, 10 min
Festival: Krakow Film Festival (Poland)
Long Live Death — dir. Robert Mihály, Slovakia, 2021, 20 min
Festival: One World (Czech Republic)
Venue: Zhovten Cinema, Hegemon Hall
18:30 — Guest arrival
19:00 — Official opening and screening
After the screening at Zhovten Cinema, the films will be available for online viewing on the DOCUSPACE platform throughout March.
The event is held with the financial support of the Embassy of Sweden and the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine.
