A space for trust and shared experience

As she was opening the event, Oksana Trokoz, the regional coordinator of the Travelling Docudays UA in the Zhytomyr Region, reminded everyone that NGO Modern Format has been bringing the festival to the city since 2009.

“The Travelling Festival has long become not just about film screenings for our community. It is a space of trust, conversations, and mutual support, where we learn to listen to one another and to comprehend the most complex topics,” the coordinator noted.

Photo: Zhytomyr continues to unite generations during the Traveling Docudays UA

This year’s festival theme is Rare Resource. It refers not only to mineral resources, but to another, most valuable resource: people, their inner strength, their ability to hold one another and build communities that resist the chaos of war.

Sanatorium: A film that brings back memories

The film about Kuyalnyk touched viewers with its sincerity and accuracy. For the older generation, it was a return to the times when the sanatorium was a place of power and healing. For young people, it was a new discovery of a space that now exists more in memory than in reality.

Larysa Rudnieva, a viewer from Sloviansk, shared her emotions:

“I have very warm memories connected with Kuyalnyk. I once underwent treatment there for 24 days. This place was special for me. That is why watching the film was both pleasant and painful at the same time. I did not regret coming for a single second.”

For the younger viewers, the film became an opportunity to look at a space they had never known.

Photo: Visitors to the festival in Zhytomyr

Diana Riabchun said:

“This was a completely new territory for me. I listened to people who remember Kuyalnyk and realised that we were experiencing this film differently. It was this very discussion that made the event so valuable.”

When generations meet

The discussion after the screening was moderated by psychologist Iryna Yatsyk, who brought viewers together in mixed-age groups. In this dialogue, those who remember the sanatorium’s best years met those whose present is defined by the sound of air-raid alerts.

The psychologist drew attention to a telling detail:
when an alert sounded in the film, the young people instinctively reached for their phones — to check whether it was happening here and now. This vividly illustrates the level of anxiety in which the generation of the war is growing up.

Photo: watching the movie Sanatorium

“One of the most valuable aspects of such events is the exchange of experience. When people share what they felt during the film, they understand their own emotions better. It is an important harmonisation of your inner state, when you realise that there are those nearby who are living through similar experiences,” emphasised the moderator of the meeting, Iryna Yatsyk.

The 22nd Travelling Docudays UA is held with the financial support of the European Union, the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, and International Media Support. The opinions, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily correspond to the views of the European Union, the governments or charities of these countries. Responsibility for the content of the publication lies solely on its authors.