This year, Boryspil became one of the first Ukrainian cities to host the Travelling Docudays UA 2023. The festival was conducted at the Vyacheslav Chornovil Public Library in the centre of Boryspil. Here is some information about the programme of the Travelling Festival in Boryspil and the audience’s impressions about the screenings.

The organizers chose to screen five films which demonstrate the possibility of positive change in society thanks to actions taken by ordinary people. The discussions often featured words about motivation to action, community activism, struggle for justice and for the country’s future. At the same time, the participants discussed the prospects of Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction, which will be based on the Lugano principles that focus on implementing reforms and overcoming corruption.

The audience was the most enthusiastic while discussing the two films made by Ukrainian directors, whose screenings were attended by the authors and protagonists of the films themselves.

One of the films was King Lear: How We Looked for Love during the War, directed by Dmytro Hershko. The film is about the fate of internally displaced people from various places in Ukraine who became actors in a stage performance of Shakespeare. Together with one of the film’s characters, Oleksiy Dashkovsky, who left Irpin after 24 February and who played King Lear in the play, the audience discussed the therapeutic role of art, how it changes lives and helps survivors to deal with trauma.

In turn, Kherson Unconquered is a film exploring the challenges faced by the journalists of the Vgoru Media Platform during the war. The guests at the screening and discussion were the film’s director Ustyn Danchuk and the journalist Liza Zharkykh. The film screening evoked an emotional response among the audience: there were tears, laughter, fear and pride. During the conversation, the participants learned more about the fate of the journalists and residents of Kherson who worked there during the occupation and who are staying in this dangerous Ukrainian region. “If you know what and who all of this is for, you are not as scared, you just go and do it!” This was the main conviction that could be heard from the Kherson activists.

There was also a screening of the film In Ukraine, which showed the perspective of Polish filmmakers Tomasz Wolski and Piotr Pawlus on the events in Ukraine. The film has no voiceover or comments, it is an observation of people in the Ukrainian cities that have been affected by the war.

The emotionally hardest film in this year’s festival programme was Seeds of Hunger: Ukraine 1933 by the French filmmaker Guillaume Ribot, which is about one of the most horrible pages of Ukraine’s history. The film combines historical footage and excerpts from classic films with texts by Gareth Jones, an international journalist who was the first to speak up about the Holodomor in Ukraine. After the screening, the audience discussed the importance of such films for communicating history to the next generations. Can one person go against the system and propaganda? How important is every person’s activity? These and other questions were part of the conversation after the screening.

A still from Seeds of Hunger: Ukraine 1933 by French filmmaker Guillaume Ribot

The last film of the festival, A Bunch of Amateurs by the British filmmaker Kim Hopkins is about active film amateurs. It reassured the audience with its optimism. Old age can and should be full of positive emotions and events that can be created on your own.

This year’s programme of the Travelling Docudays UA in Boryspil immersed the audience in history, demonstrated the fight of Ukrainians against the russian aggressor, and encouraged the viewers to engage in sensitive and emotional conversations. Visitors from the capital and the neighbouring villages came to Boryspil to watch these films. Meanwhile, the local film enthusiasts already cannot wait to attend the next Travelling Docudays UA.

Author: Olena Shkrebtiyenko, co-organizer and moderator of the Travelling Docudays UA events in Boryspil.

The 20th Travelling Docudays UA is held with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, US Embassy in Ukraine. The opinions, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily reflect the views of the governments, charities, or companies of these countries. Responsibility for the contents of the material lies solely on its authors.