We are concerned about the situation with the global spread of the COVID-19 virus and the potential threat of an epidemic in Ukraine. An unconditional rule for holding the Docudays UA festival is to guarantee safety for all of its participants. Due to these considerations, in particular, to reduce the health risks for the festival guests, participants and visitors, we have made a decision to move the dates of the 17th Docudays UA festival.

This is in complete accordance with the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers’ Decree on the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 in the Ukrainian territory and with the decision by the Kyiv city government on limiting mass events in the capital. We plan to postpone the festival until at least the second half of April. However, this is not determined for sure and will depend on the future epidemiological situation in Ukraine and the world. The decision was not easy for the Festival team.

Unfortunately, the international dynamics are not encouraging: we are seeing the number of infected people increase, flights are cancelled, and countries are locked down, banning all entry or exit. Under these circumstances, we have no right to put the festival guests and visitors in danger.

This year, we have prepared 80 films from 34 countries for festival screenings. A lot of new world documentary hits and high-profile premieres of Ukrainian films. We have invited over 400 guests to the festival: prominent filmmakers, producers, the protagonists of their films, as well as international film industry experts, human rights advocates, and regional Docudays UA coordinators, DOCU/CLUB moderators from all over Ukraine. We have planned and organized over 20 human rights events.

We love this festival and we feel that you love it as much as its team does. So we emphasize: we are not cancelling the event. Instead, we propose that you wait for a safe moment with us to discover new documentaries from the 17th Docudays UA programme together.

The Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival has existed for 17 years. It is an important cultural event both for Kyiv and for the international film community. Last year, we had over 24,564 viewers. About 2,000 festival fans participated in the RIGHTS NOW! human rights platform events at the IZONE Creative Space.

The Festival is non-political and non-commercial. We exist thanks to funding from foreign countries, international funds and organizations, and thanks to support from the Ukrainian government. By postponing the event, we incur significant financial and organizational losses. So we hope that the city government will be able to facilitate holding the festival, which is an important cultural event for the capital, after the quarantine ends.

Here is the information about the purchased passes and accreditations.

We will send a separate letter to the journalists accredited for the 17th Docudays UA.

With kind regards,

the team of the Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival