About the festival 

For more than twenty years, the festival has been drawing attention to important social and political topics: the protection of human rights and freedoms, overcoming social inequality, ecology, preservation of cultural heritage, the causes and consequences of wars and restoration of justice. In doing so, it contributes to the formation of an active civil society and the development of documentary cinema.

Two months of the Travelling Festival in different parts of the country are waiting for you. This means hundreds of film screenings and human rights events in cinemas, houses of culture, educational and correctional institutions, film clubs, hubs and libraries. As well as discussions, debates and searching for answers to many questions, the main of which this time is who we are and what Ukraine is.

The concept of the 21st Travelling Fest

The central theme of the 21st Docudays UA is “10 years of a three-day war that lasts for three centuries” — a title full of contradictions that has become part of the new Ukrainian folklore. 

We will talk about historical memory, its fragility, and the constant attempts of enemies to change and rewrite it. We will talk about the cyclical nature of history, the preservation and search for identity, as well as about accountability, punishment of war criminals and the new security architecture.

What has to be done so that Western leaders finally implement an effective system of defence for Ukraine, Europe and the rest of the world against Russian aggression? And what is the price of irresponsibility? 

Creating the visual image of the festival that will reflect its overarching theme, we were inspired by creations of Mykhaylo Alekseyenko, the artist who has been working with crystal for over a decade — bizarre, sparkling and fragile, like memory itself. This year, crystal fragments are used in the design solutions and the main Travelling Fest promotional video: in order to move on, we need to put our broken selves together like crystal glassware and remember everything so that no loss in this age-old struggle is in vain.

The Travelling Fest's film and human rights programme

Out of 62 films from 34 countries in the main programme of the 21st Docudays UA festival, which took place in May-June 2024 in Kyiv, five films by Ukrainian and foreign directors were selected for the Travelling Fest. Those are sincere and profound films, responding to the audience with their empathy and ideas, inspiring recovery and giving tips on how to survive in difficult situations, and at the same time provoking new questions and thoughts.

For example, the work of the Dutch director Walter Stockman, The Kyiv Files, which opens the festival, takes us back to the times when Ukraine was under Soviet totalitarianism and the state had complete control over all citizens. Based on the memoirs of three people who had the opportunity to see the KGB files on them, the film raises the question of personal responsibility for crimes under dictatorship.

Karolina Uskakovych's Boots on the Ground, Hands in the Soil is a film that encourages reflection on the power of human connection with nature, small homeland, family traditions, as well as on the revival of identity and the therapeutic effect of gardening. 

Karolina, who lives in the Netherlands, once complained to her grandmother on the phone about the local tomatoes: they were tasteless. When she came to visit her grandmother Zoya, a proud Ukrainian pensioner, in the winter of 2021, she gave her granddaughter a bag of her own tomato seeds. However, the next season of tomato growing was threatened by the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine. Despite the difficult circumstances, in the spring of 2022, Zoya and Karolina sowed tomatoes: one in her garden in Vinnytsia and the other on the balcony of her apartment in the faraway Netherlands. Zoya teaches Karolina how to take care of plants, and in their everyday conversations they touch upon the topic of Russification, the inferiority complex that has been instilled in a generation of Ukrainians, and the ability of our nation to survive and revive under any circumstances. 

In the film Girl Away From Home by Ukrainian director Alisa Kovalenko and Danish director Simon Lereng Wilmont, the title itself speaks volumes about the narrative. It is the story of a young gymnast from Kyiv who, due to the invasion of Russia, was forced to leave for Germany and build her new life in the unknown. 

The Kiosk by Polish director Daniel Stopa stands out among this year's festival selection because it has won the most awards at various festivals. The film tells the story of women's friendship and solidarity. Two women in a newsagent's kiosk fill out divorce papers for one of them so that she can start a new life without fear and violence. 

Another film, Nelson the Piglet from the Netherlands by Anneke de Lind van Wijngaarden, shows a family who adopted a dwarf pig as a pet. At least, that's what the owners thought until Nelson grew into a half-tonne beast and caused a riot among neighbours, classmates and the police. 

Most of the films at the 21st Travelling Fest are short films. Thus, they will allow more time for discussion, debate and live communication. The filmmakers, representatives of the creative teams, as well as the heroes and heroines of the stories will join the screenings and discussions — either live or via online video link.

A still from the film Caught in the Net

In partnership with the RIGHTS NOW! human rights programme, each region will organise and hold human rights events, such as lectures, training, and master classes with the participation of experts, human rights defenders and scientists. Among the events are those dedicated to the new Information Campaign Sexual Abuse on the Internet: How to Protect Children, which was jointly launched this year by the Docudays NGO, the DOCU/CLUB Network and the Magnolia NGO. 

Part of the campaign will be the Czech documentary Caught in the Net, created by the directors Vít Klusák and Barbora Chalupová. In the film, three adult actresses pretend to be twelve-year-old girls and register in the most popular 18+ social networks for an experiment that opens up the complex, painful and rather stigmatised topic of child sexual abuse to the public. Unfortunately, the problem has been affecting all countries, and its scale is only growing.

According to INHOPE, in 2022, Ukraine was ranked 5th in the world for posting child sexual abuse materials on the Internet. Every 12th child in Ukraine has received a request to send naked photos of themselves, and almost a quarter of children have been involved in at least one situation of sexual abuse or exploitation online — these are the national statistics for 2020. Half of the children have not told anyone about it.

The campaign Sexual Abuse on the Internet: How to Protect Children aims to make the problem more visible to engage a significant part of society in discussing important issues: how to protect children and warn parents, find and punish the perpetrators, and whether it is possible to stop the spread of these crimes.

Living

The Living Library of the RIGHTS NOW! human rights programme will further develop the central theme of the 21st Travelling Fest, opening to its visitors in an updated format. Instead of individual “readings” (meetings and conversations with ”living books”), we will organise open ones — public moderated conversations, where “books” will be well-known experts, artists, veterans, united by the experience of struggle for preservation and restoration of our national identity. 

Ukrainian defenders, medics and volunteers who are currently in the combat zone will also be in touch, thus creating a “bridge from the front” — thanks to these people, we have the opportunity to live under the blue and yellow flag and talk about what is really important to us in our own language.

Accessibility and safety

Now to the important things: accessibility. For many years, we have been developing this area so that every person in Ukraine can watch high-quality documentaries. All the films at this year's festival have descriptive subtitles to show the audio part of the video, and three films have audio description — a special voiceover track to explain the visual part of the movie (Nelson the Piglet, The Kyiv Files, Girl Away From Home). 

For those who will not be able to attend the screenings, and for the residents of cities that the festival will not be able to visit, the films from the 21st Travelling Fest’s programme will be available for viewing in the DOCUSPACE online cinema during the last week of November.