7 Films Connected to Ukraine, and Their Directors and Actors

This article was published in October 2024. The different things the phrase “Ukrainian film” can mean (country of production, setting, and who made it) are covered in “Ukrainian Film” Means Five Different Things — Country of Production, Setting, and Who Made It.

20 Days in Mariupol, winner of the Best Documentary Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards; Atlantis, winner of the Best Film award in the Orizzonti section at the 2019 Venice Film Festival; and the family animated film Stolen Princess: Ruslan and Ludmila. This article covers seven films connected to Ukraine, along with three actors and three directors.

The History of Ukrainian Film

Ukraine was one of the major centers of filmmaking in the Soviet era, and many films were made at the Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kyiv. Directors and actors from Ukraine also worked in the Soviet film industry.

However, strict censorship by the Soviet government and a strong propagandistic element restricted free expression.

Ukrainian Film Since Independence

Since independence in 1991, Ukrainian film has undergone major change.

Films depicting Ukraine’s own culture and history emerged one after another, and film became an important medium reflecting social change and historical events.

In the early years of independence, many films exploring Ukrainian identity were made, centered on historical themes and Ukrainian folk culture.

Ukrainian Film Since 2000

In the 2000s, Ukrainian film also developed technically and began to gain international recognition.

Realistic documentaries and fiction films increased, and works dealing with Russian aggression and the Euromaidan (Revolution of Dignity) drew particular attention.

Ukrainian films are also frequently featured at international film festivals, and directors such as Sergei Loznitsa and Mstyslav Chernov in particular have won international awards, conveying Ukraine’s reality to audiences around the world.

However, challenges remain, such as a lack of industry infrastructure and funding and a small domestic market, and the directors and works achieving international recognition have been limited to a few.

Works Depicting Historical Events, and Their Festival Awards

Works Reflecting Historical Events

Among the films covered in this article, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom deals with the Euromaidan protests of 2013–2014, Mr. Jones depicts the Holodomor (the great famine) of the 1930s, and Ivan’s Childhood depicts the Eastern Front of World War II. 20 Days in Mariupol is a documentary recorded on the ground by an Associated Press journalist.

Festival Awards and Nominations

Listing the awards for the films covered in this article: 20 Days in Mariupol won Best Documentary Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards; Atlantis won the Best Film award in the Orizzonti section at the 2019 Venice Film Festival; The Painted Bird won the UNICEF Award at the Venice Film Festival; and Ivan’s Childhood won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards in 2016, and Mr. Jones was an official selection in the competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival.

7 Films Connected to Ukraine

Here are seven internationally acclaimed films.
A film made in Ukraine, a co-production with another country, and a film Ukraine had no part in making are each different things. This article states the country of production wherever it could be confirmed.

• 20 Days in Mariupol
• The Painted Bird
• Mr. Jones
• Ivan’s Childhood
• Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
• Stolen Princess
• Atlantis

20 Days in Mariupol (released April 26, 2024)

Winner of Best Documentary Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards, 20 Days in Mariupol is by Mstyslav Chernov, an Associated Press journalist who recorded Russia’s full-scale invasion on the ground in a Mariupol surrounded by Russian forces.

Footage shot at the risk of his life shows Ukraine’s reality exactly as it was. By realistically depicting the collapse of ordinary civilian life, the film let the world witness Ukraine’s tragedy firsthand.

Atlantis (released June 25, 2022)

Winner of the Best Film award in the Orizzonti section at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Atlantis is a dystopian film set in a future Ukraine.

Its theme is human relationships torn apart by war and a devastated environment, expressed through quiet but overwhelming visual beauty.

Despite its dystopian setting, it depicts people beginning to move toward rebuilding.

The Painted Bird (released October 9, 2020)

The Painted Bird is a co-production between the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine, directed by Václav Marhoul. It won the UNICEF Award at the Venice Film Festival, and also drew attention for the number of people who walked out during screenings.

A boy caught up in the chaos and violence of war continues his journey while his life is endangered again and again, depicted with a visual beauty that is both cruel and poetic.

Under the influence of a war where different peoples and religions collide, human nature and hope are expressed through the boy’s perspective, leaving audiences with a deep emotional aftertaste.

Mr. Jones (released August 14, 2020)

Mr. Jones is a co-production between Poland, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine, directed by Agnieszka Holland. Selected for the competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival, it depicts Ukraine’s Holodomor (the great famine) that occurred under Stalin’s rule in the 1930s.

It depicts the journalist Gareth Jones investigating in order to tell the world the truth about Stalin’s repression, with the struggle to pursue the truth as the film’s central theme.

By bringing to light the former Soviet Union’s cover-up of the famine and its terrible effects, it is an essential film for understanding a tragedy buried in the darkness of history.

Stolen Princess: Ruslan and Ludmila (released March 7, 2018)

Stolen Princess: Ruslan and Ludmila is a family-oriented animated film, unusual for a Ukrainian production.

The adventure of a brave knight trying to rescue a princess held captive by magic became a hit both within Ukraine and abroad, and is highly praised for its beautiful animation and accessible story.

The story is a fantasy that takes its plot as a starting point from the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin’s narrative poem Ruslan and Ludmila.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (released October 9, 2015)

Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards in 2016, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom is a documentary about the 93-day protest movement, the Euromaidan (Revolution of Dignity), that took place in Ukraine from 2013 to 2014.

Based on the true story of citizens — numbering in the hundreds of thousands at their peak — standing up to the government in search of a better future, it vividly depicts the public’s passion and courage in seeking democracy and freedom.

Shot in documentary style, the citizens’ resistance movement is a film that goes beyond a mere political event, prompting reflection on human rights issues today.

Ivan’s Childhood (1962, Soviet Union)

Ivan’s Childhood was produced by the Soviet studio Mosfilm, and is Andrei Tarkovsky’s feature debut. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Ukraine had no part in producing it.

Set on the Eastern Front of World War II, it depicts Ivan, a boy who lost his family, joining the war as a scout. It is based on the short story “Ivan” by Vladimir Bogomolov.

The film is known for its distinctive visual beauty and mythic imagery, and is highly regarded as an art film.

What stands out is how poetically it expresses the destruction wrought by war and the human beings who resist it.

This film is included in this article because works made during the former Soviet period are often introduced as “Ukrainian films,” and this is meant to draw that distinction. A work made in the former Soviet Union cannot be treated as the work of any single present-day country.

3 Actors from Ukraine

Here are three actors from Ukraine who are known both at home and abroad.

• Oleh Zahorodnii
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy
• Milla Jovovich

Oleh Zahorodnii

Oleh Zahorodnii is an actor born October 27, 1987, in Kyiv.

He drew attention for the 2022 film Firebird. Set in the Soviet air force during the Cold War, it is a story about a forbidden love.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is known worldwide today as the president of Ukraine, but he had previously also found success as a comedian and actor.

Born January 25, 1978, in Kryvyi Rih, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Zelenskyy starred in the comedy-drama Servant of the People, playing a teacher who unexpectedly becomes president.

The show became a huge hit, and when Zelenskyy actually ran for president and won, the reality overlapped with the show’s storyline, making headlines.

Zelenskyy was an actor known for an acting style with a sense of humor and human warmth. His detailed career and current activities are explained in the article below.

Reference: The Career of Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy | An Unusual Turn from Actor, and the Background

Milla Jovovich

Milla Jovovich, now active in Hollywood, is also from Ukraine.

Jovovich was born December 17, 1975, in Kyiv, and began her career as a model.

She made her film debut in 1988 in the erotic romance Two Moon Junction, and drew worldwide attention playing the heroine in The Fifth Element in 1997.

Since then, she has appeared in popular films such as the Resident Evil series and The Million Dollar Hotel.

In her personal life, she married Paul W. S. Anderson, director of the Resident Evil series, and is a mother of two daughters.

3 Directors Featured in This Article

Here are three of the directors behind the films covered in this article.

• Mstyslav Chernov
• Sergei Loznitsa
• Peeter Rebane

Mstyslav Chernov (20 Days in Mariupol)

Mstyslav Chernov is the director of 20 Days in Mariupol, the documentary that recorded the war in real time and shocked the world.

Chernov, also a journalist, filmed on the front line at the risk of his life, recording the horror of war in vivid detail.

Sergei Loznitsa (Maidan)

Sergei Loznitsa is a distinguished director who has made numerous documentaries and fiction films on social issues and history in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.

His signature work, Maidan, is a documentary recording Ukraine’s Euromaidan protests, depicting footage from the scene quietly but powerfully.

He also won the Best Director award in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for Donbass.

Peeter Rebane (Firebird)

Peeter Rebane is a director from Estonia who drew attention for Firebird, a film set in the Cold War-era Soviet Union depicting a forbidden love.

Firebird takes as its theme a romance between two Soviet air force soldiers, delicately depicting the conflict and repression of love against its historical backdrop.

Firebird was nominated for the Breakthrough Performance award at the BIFA (British Independent Film Awards).

How to Watch Ukrainian Films

In Japan, some of these films can be watched on online streaming services. The following reflects the situation at the time of publication (October 2024). Availability and which service carries a title change over time, so please check each service before watching.

In particular, Netflix and Prime Video stream a variety of foreign films including Ukrainian ones, so you can easily watch talked-about or notable titles.

Netflix has documentaries such as Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, along with works on the theme of Ukraine’s war and social issues.

You can search by theme, not just for the newest Ukrainian films.

Many Ukrainian films can also be watched on Prime Video.

In particular, The Painted Bird and the feature film about the 2014 Battle of Ilovaisk, released in Japan as Ukraine Crisis, are among the titles available.

Telling the 7 Films Apart by Who Made Them

Of the seven films, The Painted Bird is a co-production of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine, and Mr. Jones is a co-production of Poland, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. Ivan’s Childhood was produced by the Soviet studio Mosfilm, with no involvement from Ukraine. The countries and companies that produced the remaining four films have not been confirmed in this article.

These films are often lumped together as “Ukrainian films,” but who made each one differs from film to film. When recommending a film to someone, it is more accurate not to blur that distinction.