The DOCU/HIT program, which presents documentaries that have become festival favorites at international film festivals, starts on April 20 in Kyiv. In the capital, the screenings will continue at the Ukraine Cinema and Zhovten Cinema. Later, DOCU/HIT will travel to Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa.

An Academy Award nominee, winner of Sundance, CPH:DOX and Jihlava IDFF awards, the film Last Men in Aleppo by the Syrian director Feras Fayyad follows the efforts of the internationally recognised White Helmets, an organisation consisting of ordinary citizens who are the first to rush towards military strikes and attacks in the hope of saving lives.

Through a personal story of the famous dancer Bobbi Gene Smith, the Danish director Elvira Lind bursts open the world of modern dance and exposes the emotional quagmire where artistry, romance, and determination intersect. The film Bobbi Jene was awarded at the Tribeca Film Festival and Philadelphia Film Festival; it also received the Cinema Eye Honors Award.

Filmed on the front line in Eastern Ukraine, The Distant Barking of Dogs by Simon Lereng Wilmont follows 10-year-old Oleh, who lives with his beloved grandmother Oleksandra in the Hnutove village in Donetsk region. The film records how a child’s natural urge to learn about the world is intertwined with dangers and challenges of war. It received several awards at the IDFA, as well as at the Gothenburg and Thessaloniki film festivals. At Docudays UA in Kyiv, the film received the festival’s Student Jury Award.

See the addresses of film theaters and the screening schedules at the project website docuhit.org.