British Council Ukraine together with International Human Rights Documetnary Film Festival Docudays UA and with participation of Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre will visit International festival of documentary film Sheffield Doc/Fest, taking place on 5-10th of June 2015 in city of Sheffield. The visit is aiming to introduce a delegation of Ukrainian documentary filmmakers to the largest British film forum, specialising in non-fiction films.
Sheffield Doc/Fest yearly organises one of the largest venues in Europe for support, development and commercial promotion of the documentary film projects. It is also known for its innovative projects. Festival offers, among other things, platforms for researching the influence of digital media, social networks, game industry on documentary filmmaking, conferences on digital and interactive storytelling, various events exploring new technologies and film industry meetings.
For the first time during the 22 Sheffield Doc/Fest a presentation of contemporary Ukrainian documentary films Keep Calm and Shoot in Ukraine will take place, aiming to promote Ukrainian documentary film on international level. On 7th of June a conference will be organized, with participation of directors Serhiy Bukovsky, Valentin Vasyanovych, Roman Bondarchuk and Philip Illyenko (Head of Ukrainian State Film Agency). The event will be moderated by the British film critic and expert in East European region Ian Haydn Smith.
First ever catalogue of the Ukrainian documentary, listing films produced in 2013-2015, will be presented during the conference as well. Catalogue was created by the team of Docudays UA, with the financial support of the Ukrainian State Film Agency. After the presentation it will be available for download on our web-site.
Additionally, this year competition and non-competition programs of Sheffield Doc/Fest include several Ukrainian films. Section Instigators & Agitators, that brings together films documenting the histories of the radical deeds, includes All things ablaze by Oleksandr Techynskyi and Maidan by Sergei Loznitsa.
One of the winners of the Docudays UA-2015, film The Doctor Leaves Last by Svitlana Shymko will be competing for the best short film prize in Short Doc Award.
The Russian Woodpecker by Chad Garcia will be participating in full-length film competition Grand Jury Award.
List of members of Ukrainian delegation
Philip Illyenko (Head of Ukrainian State Film Agency)
Oleksandra Mykolyshyn (Head of Promotion Department, Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre)
Roman Bondarchuk (film director, art director of International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA)
Serhiy Bukovsky (film director)
Valentin Vasyanovych (film director)
Ella Shtyka (producer)
Igor Savychenko (producer)
Olena Fedyuk (film director)
Daria Bassel (program coordinator for Docudays UA IDFF)
Viktoriia Leshchenko (program coordinator for Docudays UA IDFF)
Nadia Parfan (co-founder and a curator of International festival of film and urbanism "86" in Slavutych, co-founder of 86PROKAT)
Anna Bubnova (British Council Ukraine)
Founded in 1934, the British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. It creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide.
Docudays UA is the only Ukrainian international human rights documentary film festival. It takes place every year on the last week of March in Kyiv. Afterwards, Docudays UA traditionally presents its best films in regions of Ukraine during the Traveling Festival. Screenings take place in period from October to December.
National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Centre is a state enterprise that integrates the State Film Archive of Feature Films and the Film Copying Laboratory. De-facto, Dovzhenko Centre is the state Ukrainian cinemateque. It is the only Member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) in Ukraine.
