The film The Cacophony of Donbas opened the 16th Travelling International Human Rights Film Festival Docudays UA in Volyn. The film screening took place on November 22 at the Palace of Culture in Lutsk.

The film tells the story of the region’s changes since the Soviet times and until now. This was where the Soviet myths about Stakhanov, about successful and rich miners were born. TV channels showed their wealthy lifestyle, showed how they were supposedly receiving housing from the state and how the Soviet government supported them. The propaganda was so powerful that nobody spoke about the actual problems of miners. Up until the mass strike of miners in 1989, which then grew to become a political protest.

The screening was followed by a discussion with the producer Yuriy Leuta. According to him, the main goal of the film was to show the effect of propaganda on people and its consequences.

“Propaganda always appeals to simple things. That’s how it was in the times of Soviet propaganda, and that’s how it is now with Russian propaganda. Everyone whom we’ve interviewed for the film are residents of Donetsk and Luhansk. And people told us that before Russia occupied Donbas, for two months, propaganda videos and old Soviet songs played everywhere in these cities. So this myth, this nostalgia for the supposedly happy past, was promoted very actively,” explained the producer.

The easternmost screening of the film was in Mariupol (not as a part of the Travelling Docudays UA), and the westernmost was in Lutsk. “At the screening in Mariupol, people told us that this was finally the most truthful film about Donbas. They thanked us for seeing the past which they recognized,” noted Yuriy Leuta.

The film has also been demonstrated abroad, most often in France. And thanks to the Travelling Docudays UA, the film will be seen in different Ukrainian regions.

“We chose this film because there are many myths about ‘easterners’ and ‘westerners,’ nostalgia for the Soviet past – in different corners of Ukraine. The film clearly shows how propaganda used to work and how it works now, why Donbas has become what it is today. The topic has always been relevant and we need to learn how to oppose lies and manipulation,” emphasized Bogdana Stelmakh, the regional coordinator of the Travelling Festival.

“We wanted to show the effect of propaganda on Donbas without value judgements. We try to sympathize with the people who lived in Soviet times, because that’s how their lives turned out to be. We shouldn’t judge here, we should analyze. We don’t condemn, we just want this never to repeat again. We just need to draw the right conclusion,” summarized the film’s producer Yuriy Leuta.

Written by Iryna Musiy, journalist