Cinema of Ukraine

Cinema of Ukraine
No. of screens2,332 (2011)[1]
 • Per capita5.6 per 100,000 (2011)[1]
Main distributorsB And H 20.0%
Gemini Film 11.0%
Kinomania 7.0%[2]
Produced feature films (2009)[3]
Fictional10
Animated2
Documentary7
Number of admissions (2018)[4]
Total14,995,200
National films448,400 (3.0%)
Gross box office (2011)[4]
Total₴345 million (~€10.6 million)
National films₴4.62 million (~€142,000) (1.3%)
Political map of Ukraine, with main cities

Ukrainian cinema comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of Ukraine and also by Ukrainian film makers abroad.

Despite a history of important and successful productions, the industry has often been characterized by a debate about its identity, the level of Russian and European influence.[5] Ukrainian producers are active in international co-productions, while Ukrainian actors, directors and crew feature regularly in Russian (and formerly Soviet) films. Successful films have been based on Ukrainian people, stories or events, including Battleship Potemkin, Man with a Movie Camera, and Everything Is Illuminated.

The Ukrainian State Film Agency owns National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Centre, film copying laboratory and archive, and takes part in hosting of the Odesa International Film Festival. Another festival, Molodist in Kyiv, is the only FIAPF accredited International Film Festival held in Ukraine; the competition program has sections for student films, first short films, and first full feature films from all over the world. It is held during the month of October every year.

Ukraine has had an influence on the history of the cinema. Ukrainian directors Alexander Dovzhenko, often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, as well as being a pioneer of Soviet montage theory, Dovzhenko Film Studios, and Sergei Parajanov, Armenian film director and artist who made significant contributions to Ukrainian, Armenian and Georgian cinema. He invented his own cinematic style, Ukrainian poetic cinema, which was totally out of step with the guiding principles of socialist realism.

Filmmaker Kira Muratova

Other important directors including Kira Muratova, Sergei Loznitsa, Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, Larisa Shepitko, Sergei Bondarchuk, Leonid Bykov, Yuri Ilyenko, Leonid Osyka, Ihor Podolchak with his Delirium and Maryna Vroda. Many Ukrainian actors have achieved international fame and critical success, including: Vera Kholodnaya, Bohdan Stupka, Eugene Hütz, Milla Jovovich, Olga Kurylenko, Mila Kunis, Mark Ivanir.

On 10 March 2024, creators of a documentary film 20 Days in Mariupol were awarded with the Oscar in the category "Best Documentary Feature Film", the first Oscar in Ukraine's history.[6]

  1. ^ a b "Table 8: Cinema Infrastructure - Capacity". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Table 6: Share of Top 3 distributors (Excel)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  3. ^ "Table 1: Feature Film Production - Genre/Method of Shooting". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Table 11: Exhibition - Admissions & Gross Box Office (GBO)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  5. ^ Shevchuk, Yuri (2014). Linguistic Strategies of Imperial Appropriation: Why Ukraine is absent from world film history. Ch. 22 of Contemporary Ukraine on the Cultural Map of Europe, ed. Larissa M. L. Zaleska Onyshkevych & Maria G. Rewakowicz. Routledge. pp. 359–374. ISBN 9781317473787.
  6. ^ "'20 Days in Mariupol' wins best documentary Oscar, a first for AP and PBS' 'Frontline'". AP News. 11 March 2024.