This autumn, the Travelling Docudays UA will once again travel across the regions of Ukraine. In October and November, film screenings, discussions and meetings with filmmakers and protagonists of the films will take place in various cities and towns. Some events will take place online.

Every year, ahead of the launch of the Travelling Docudays UA, the festival’s regional coordinators come together to review the previous year, discuss challenges and prepare for the new festival. This year, the seminar took place near Kyiv on 12–14 August. Representatives from 17 Ukrainian regions joined the meeting. 

Over three days, the team worked on preparations for the 23rd Travelling Festival: it introduced this year’s festival theme, Simple Structures, presented the film and human rights programmes, which focus on participatory democracy and decolonisation, as well as a new information campaign by Docudays NGO about people living under occupation. The team also discussed festival communications, organisational matters and the particularities of holding events in the regions during the war.

 Asier Santillan, Head of the European Integration, Governance and Rule of Law, Civil Society Section at the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

Among the seminar’s guests was Asier Santillan, Head of the European Integration, Governance and Rule of Law, Civil Society Section at the EU Delegation to Ukraine. He emphasised that he was proud to have had the opportunity to support the Travelling Docudays UA for many years, as the festival strengthens democracy and contributes to the development of civil society in Ukraine.

“Ukrainian civil society is one of the strongest I have ever seen. To see people protesting against government decisions in the fourth and fifth years of the full-scale war is remarkable,” said Asier Santillan.

He added that he was proud of Ukrainians who continue to invent “simple structures,” the mechanisms that form the foundation for both everyday well-being during the war and democratic processes themselves.

The seminar participants were also addressed by Vasyl Romaniuk, coordinator of cooperation projects at the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine. He spoke about the fragility of memory in wartime: about voices and testimonies that are easy to lose if you don’t capture them on time. What he meant first of all were the stories of participants of the underground movement in the occupied territories and people who have survived occupation.


 Vasyl Romaniuk, coordinator of cooperation projects at the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine.

“We should preserve the testimonies and broadcast them. It is a complex, hard, but incredibly important work undertaken by coordinators, human rights organisations; and the massive array of oral information that has already been collected will matter not only today but also for the truth, memory, and justice in the future,” said Vasyl Romaniuk.

He added that Sweden remains a reliable partner for the human rights community in Ukraine and supports this kind of work in particular: the methodical recording of people’s experiences.

“Ukrainian resilience is built not only on the strength of resistance but also on the methodical, consistent work to preserve testimonies. And that is the strength of the simple structures that underpin our country,” summed up the coordinator of cooperation projects at the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine.

A significant section of the seminar was dedicated to the Human Rights programme of the 23rd Festival. Inna Pidluska, Deputy Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation, together with Anastasiia Bahalika, Director of the Human Rights Department of NGO Docudays, presented the organisation’s new information campaign titled Being Present, dedicated to people living under occupation. During the presentation, the participants met representatives of regional media from communities near the frontline and relocated media. The participants discussed the opportunities for cooperation within the campaign. In particular, a key topic was how to discuss the experiences of occupation without overlooking the voices of those who have stayed there.


 Anastasiia Bahalika, Director of the Human Rights Department of NGO Docudays. 

This conversation marked the beginning of a broader discussion about the rights of people living in the temporarily occupied territories and how Ukrainian society talks about this experience. During the joint session Do People under Occupation Have Rights from Ukraine’s Perspective?, moderated by Volodymyr Yavorskyi, Chair of the Board of Docudays NGO and Programme Director at the Centre for Civil Liberties, representatives of regional and relocated media, together with the seminar participants, sought answers to difficult questions about the visibility, voice and rights of people under occupation.

This discussion was naturally followed by a conversation about decolonisation and democracy. Anton Liagusha, PhD, historian and Dean of the Department of Master’s Studies in Social Sciences and Humanities at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), gave a lecture on how historical legacies influence social practices and the way we make decisions—not only “at the top,” but also at the community level.


 Regional Coordinators discussing the development of civil society in Ukraine. 

The experience and new knowledge gained by the regional co-ordinators of the Travelling Festival will prove useful during this year’s Festival screenings and discussions. This will help audiences not only to watch films and discover new aspects of life, but also to learn to interpret documentary stories through the lens of participatory democracy and decolonisation. After all, these themes will run throughout this year’s Festival.

The 23rd Travelling Festival begins on 1 October. Follow the latest news on the Travelling Docudays UA website and on our social media pages: Facebook and Instagram. There you can always find the latest information, announcements of meetings and discussions, and the screening schedule for your region.

Photo credit: Stas Kartashov