Oleksandr Dovzhenko

Oleksandr Dovzhenko

Oleksandr Petrovych Dovzhenko was a Ukrainian Soviet screenwriter, film producer and director. He is often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, and Vsevolod Pudovkin, as well as being a pioneer of Soviet montage theory. Although Oleksandr Dovzhenko's parents were uneducated, his semi-literate grandfather encouraged him to study, leading him to become a teacher at the age of 19. Dovzhenko turned to film in 1926 when he landed in Odesa. His ambitious drive led to the production of his second-ever screenplay, Vasya the Reformer (which he also co-directed). He gained greater success with Zvenyhora in 1928 which established him as a major filmmaker of his era. His following "Ukraine Trilogy" (Zvenyhora, Arsenal, and Earth), although underappreciated by some contemporary Soviet critics (who found some of its realism counter-revolutionary), is his most well-known work in the West. For his film Shchors, Dovzhenko was awarded the Stalin Prize (1941); eight years later, in 1949, he was awarded another Stalin Prize for his film Michurin. After spending several years writing, co-writing and producing films at Mosfilm Studios in Moscow, he turned to writing novels. Over a 20-year career, Dovzhenko personally directed only 7 films. He was a mentor to the young Ukrainian Soviet filmmakers Larysa Shepitko and Sergei Parajanov. Dovzhenko died of a heart attack on November 25, 1956 in his dacha in Peredelkino. His wife, Yulia Solntseva, continued his legacy by producing films of her own and completing projects Dovzhenko was not able to create. The Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kyiv were named after him in his honour following his death.

  • Title: Oleksandr Dovzhenko
  • Popularity: 0.4116
  • Known For: Directing
  • Birthday: 1894-09-10
  • Place of Birth: Viunyshche, Chernigov Governorate, Russian Empire [now part of Sosnytsia, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine]
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Довженко Олександр Петрович, Oleksandr Dowschenko, Alexander Petrowitsch Dowschenko, Alexander Dowschenko, ألكسندر دوفجنكو, Αλεξάντερ Ντοβζένκο, Ալեքսանդր Դովժենկո, אלכסנדר דובז'נקו, オレクサンドル・ドヴジェンコ, 알렉산드르 도브젠코, 亚历山大·彼得罗维奇·杜甫仁科
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Oleksandr Dovzhenko Movies

  • 1940
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    Our Cinema

    Our Cinema

    9 1940 HD

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  • 1966
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    Sonata about the artist

    Sonata about the artist

    1 1966 HD

    The film is about Ivan Honchar, an ardent collector of Ukrainian antiquities, who turned his Kyiv apartment into a unique museum.

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  • 1992
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    Dovzhenko. Diary. 1941-1945

    Dovzhenko. Diary. 1941-1945

    1 1992 HD

    An outstanding poet, student of Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Mykola Vinhranovsky reads excerpts from his teacher's diary, comments on it - thereby emphasizing the tragic fate of the great artist. The film uses a chronicle of the war and post-war years.

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  • 1980
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    Larisa

    Larisa

    5.9 1980 HD

    Elem Klimov's documentary ode to his wife, director Larisa Shepitko, who was killed in an auto wreck.

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  • 1927
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    The Diplomatic Pouch

    The Diplomatic Pouch

    4.2 1927 HD

    The Soviet embassy in England sends two couriers with diplomatic mail to Leningrad. The inspector of security police, White, and a group of policemen attack the Soviet diplomatic couriers at night. The documents get to an English trackman, who gives them to his son, a sailor in Portsmouth.

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  • 2007
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    How The Steel Was Tempered - On Screen and In Life

    How The Steel Was Tempered - On Screen and In Life

    1 2007 HD

    How the film was made, how the events described in the film actually happened, about Nikolai Ostrovsky and much more.

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  • 1992
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    Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The Contemplations After Life

    Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The Contemplations After Life

    1 1992 HD

    We hear readings from Dovzhenko's diary and hear how the great suffering of the Ukrainian people caused him to move away from beauty for it's own sake to the search for truth, expressed in his two harrowing wartime documentaries. Stalin's 1944 banning of Dovzhenko's Ukraine in Flames screenplay and his subsequent exile to Moscow affected him greatly.

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  • 2014
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    Oleksandr Dovzhenko. Odesa Dawn

    Oleksandr Dovzhenko. Odesa Dawn

    1 2014 HD

    Oleksandr Dovzhenko shot his first films while living in Odesa. Contemporary renowned filmmakers comment on this period of Dovzhenko's creative work. Reconstructions of moments from the great master's creative explorations immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of film production in the 1920s. Footage from films of the 1920s is used.

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  • 2013
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    Dovzhenko. Ukrainian Homer of Cinema

    Dovzhenko. Ukrainian Homer of Cinema

    1 2013 HD

    An inspiring portrait of Dovzhenko, one of the greatest film directors, known as Homer of Cinema. The film features Sergei Trimbach, Oleksandr Muratov, Vyacheslav Bihun, Raisa Prokopenko, and Peter Simms.

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  • 1965
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    Triumph Over Violence

    Triumph Over Violence

    7.4 1965 HD

    Romm pulls out all the stops in its selection of documentary material to draw the viewer not only into absolute horror about fascism and nazism in the 1920s–1940s Europe, but also to a firm conviction that nothing of the sort should be allowed to happen again anywhere in the world.

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  • 2025
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    Dovzhenko. Full of Compromise

    Dovzhenko. Full of Compromise

    1 2025 HD

    This film, marking the 130th anniversary of Oleksandr Dovzhenko's birth, reveals the artist's controversial path—from his first attempts at cinema to the creation of masterpieces that became symbols of Ukrainian poetic cinema. The authors show his ability to maneuver between creative ambitions and the political demands of the era, remaining a unique figure in cultural history. 

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  • 1930
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    Earth

    Earth

    6.668 1930 HD

    The film tells about the creation of the first collective farm communes and class enmity. Vasyl, a member of the Komsomol, with the help of a local party organization, gets a tractor and plows private boundaries "on kulak fields." However, this enthusiasm will cost him dearly.

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  • 1935
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    Aerograd

    Aerograd

    4.8 1935 HD

    A futuristic adventure story set in the Soviet Far East. Considered one of two sound masterpieces by Dovzhenko, the other being "Ivan".

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  • 1935
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    Aerograd

    Aerograd

    4.8 1935 HD

    A futuristic adventure story set in the Soviet Far East. Considered one of two sound masterpieces by Dovzhenko, the other being "Ivan".

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  • 1928
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    Zvenyhora

    Zvenyhora

    6.226 1928 HD

    The momentous film stars Mykola Nademskyi as the grandfather of Tymish, whom he alerts to the secret treasure buried in the mountains of Zvenygora – a treasure that rightfully belongs to his homeland. The film wonderfully blends both lyricism and politics and uses its central construct to build a montage praising Ukrainian industrialization, attacking the bourgeoisie, celebrating the beauty of the Ukrainian steppe and retelling ancient folklore. Sergei Eisenstein said of the film, "As the lights went on, we felt that we had just witnessed a memorable event in the development of the cinema".

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  • 1929
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    Arsenal

    Arsenal

    6.7 1929 HD

    A soldier returns to Kyiv after surviving a train crash and encounters clashes between nationalists and collectivists. The story of the suppression of the Bolshevik uprising at the Arsenal factory in Kyiv by the Central Council troops.

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  • 1929
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    Arsenal

    Arsenal

    6.7 1929 HD

    A soldier returns to Kyiv after surviving a train crash and encounters clashes between nationalists and collectivists. The story of the suppression of the Bolshevik uprising at the Arsenal factory in Kyiv by the Central Council troops.

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  • 1939
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    Shors

    Shors

    5.2 1939 HD

    The year is 1919. German troops retreat from Ukraine. The Directory, the Ukrainian national government lead by Symon Petliura, takes control of Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik division commanded by Mykola Shchors is marching on the capital. The Bolsheviks capture the cities of Vinnytsia, Zhmerynka, and others one by one, but lose Berdychiv to Petliura’s forces. They are demoralized by the defeat. By his personal example of courage and military skill, Shchors inspires the retreating Red troops and leads them to victory over the enemy.

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  • 1932
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    Ivan

    Ivan

    4.6 1932 HD

    After the critical lambasting of his masterpiece Earth, Dovzhenko returned with a more popular iteration of its main motifs. Much like Earth, Ivan concerns itself with the natural rhythms of country life, disrupted by the beat of looming industrialisation.

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  • 1927
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    The Diplomatic Pouch

    The Diplomatic Pouch

    4.2 1927 HD

    The Soviet embassy in England sends two couriers with diplomatic mail to Leningrad. The inspector of security police, White, and a group of policemen attack the Soviet diplomatic couriers at night. The documents get to an English trackman, who gives them to his son, a sailor in Portsmouth.

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  • 1926
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    Love's Berries

    Love's Berries

    4.4 1926 HD

    Jean, the hairdresser, is flabbergasted: what is that baby his girlfriend Lisa has put in his arms out of the blue? The fruit of love? Out of the question. From that moment on, the reluctant father has but one thought in his head: he must get rid of the cumbersome 'article'. And, take his word for it, all the ways are good.

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  • 1949
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    Life in Bloom

    Life in Bloom

    5.15 1949 HD

    About the life of the Russian biologist Ivan Michurin. 1912 year. Having rejected American offers to work abroad, Michurin continues his research in the Russian Empire, despite the fact that his ideas are not perceived by the tsarist government, the church and idealistic science. Michurin is supported by prominent scientists of the country and he continues to work hard. After the October Revolution, a small Michurin garden in the city of Kozlov (the biologist's homeland) becomes a large state nursery.

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  • 1951
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    Farewell, America!

    Farewell, America!

    3.8 1951 HD

    An unfinished film by Oleksandr Dovzhenko, the film is a political lampoon based on the book entitled The Truth about US Diplomats, written in 1949 by the American writer Annabel Bukar. It exposes the underhanded actions of US Embassy personnel in Moscow at the onset of the Cold War. Dovzhenko managed to shoot only a half of the film, mainly the scenes that take place in the American Embassy.

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  • 1951
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    Farewell, America!

    Farewell, America!

    3.8 1951 HD

    An unfinished film by Oleksandr Dovzhenko, the film is a political lampoon based on the book entitled The Truth about US Diplomats, written in 1949 by the American writer Annabel Bukar. It exposes the underhanded actions of US Embassy personnel in Moscow at the onset of the Cold War. Dovzhenko managed to shoot only a half of the film, mainly the scenes that take place in the American Embassy.

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  • 1939
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    Bukovyna, Ukrainian Land

    Bukovyna, Ukrainian Land

    3.125 1939 HD

    Dovzhenko and Solntseva's documentary about the Bukovina region.

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  • 1945
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    Victory in Soviet Ukraine

    Victory in Soviet Ukraine

    4.7 1945 HD

    A wartime documentary directed by Alexander Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva, depicting the final campaigns that drove Nazi forces from Ukraine in 1944–45. Combining frontline footage, liberated cityscapes, and scenes of returning civilians, the film chronicles both the devastation of occupation and the triumph of Soviet arms. It stands as both a historical record of the Ukrainian front and a patriotic celebration of victory at the close of the Second World War.

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  • 1943
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    Ukraine in Flames

    Ukraine in Flames

    5.2 1943 HD

    A 1943 Soviet war propaganda film by Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva. It is Dovzhenko's second World War II documentary, and dealt with the Battle of Kharkiv. The film incorporates German footage of the invasion of Ukraine, which was later captured by the Soviets.

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  • 1940
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    Liberation

    Liberation

    6.3 1940 HD

    Wartime documentary by Dovzhenko and Solntseva.

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  • 1926
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    Vasya, the Reformer

    Vasya, the Reformer

    7 1926 HD

    Lost film directed by Oleksandr Dovzhenko (his first film) and Favst Lopatynskyi. It is a satire of the NEP period. Vasia, the son of a factory’s worker, is attracted by the romance of adventures. And he goes to look for them. He saves a drowning drunkard who tries to beat him. Vasia escapes from him in a vehicle parked on the shore. However, the vehicle belongs to a superintendent who, when he does not find it, stages its theft. Meanwhile, Vasia exposes priests in the church. As a result, the church is turned into a cinema, and the priest becomes a cinema technician. And finally, Vasia’s last deed is catching a criminal at home and denouncing him to the militia.

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  • 1945
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    Victory in Soviet Ukraine

    Victory in Soviet Ukraine

    4.7 1945 HD

    A wartime documentary directed by Alexander Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva, depicting the final campaigns that drove Nazi forces from Ukraine in 1944–45. Combining frontline footage, liberated cityscapes, and scenes of returning civilians, the film chronicles both the devastation of occupation and the triumph of Soviet arms. It stands as both a historical record of the Ukrainian front and a patriotic celebration of victory at the close of the Second World War.

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  • 1943
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    Ukraine in Flames

    Ukraine in Flames

    5.2 1943 HD

    A 1943 Soviet war propaganda film by Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva. It is Dovzhenko's second World War II documentary, and dealt with the Battle of Kharkiv. The film incorporates German footage of the invasion of Ukraine, which was later captured by the Soviets.

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  • 1994
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    Ukrainian Night of the 33rd

    Ukrainian Night of the 33rd

    1 1994 HD

    Ukrainian Night of the 33rd is series of documentaries about the Holodomor, which includes the “Fear”, “Horror”, “Guillotine”, “Case of Hrushevsky.” Each part is full of horror, and the viewer is constantly in tension.

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  • 1930
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    Earth

    Earth

    6.668 1930 HD

    The film tells about the creation of the first collective farm communes and class enmity. Vasyl, a member of the Komsomol, with the help of a local party organization, gets a tractor and plows private boundaries "on kulak fields." However, this enthusiasm will cost him dearly.

    img
  • 1930
    imgMovies

    Earth

    Earth

    6.668 1930 HD

    The film tells about the creation of the first collective farm communes and class enmity. Vasyl, a member of the Komsomol, with the help of a local party organization, gets a tractor and plows private boundaries "on kulak fields." However, this enthusiasm will cost him dearly.

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  • 1971
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    The Golden Gates

    The Golden Gates

    5.7 1971 HD

    The film-remembrance of the creative fate of the Ukrainian Soviet film director Alexander Dovzhenko, shot on his diaries. It has his statements about his work, about the role of the artist in society, his plans and sources of inspiration, his artistic style and the peculiarities of his worldview. Used excerpts from his films and documentary footage taken during the director's life, as well as filmed fragments of the unfinished scripts " The Death of the Gods” and “Tsar”.

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  • 1949
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    Life in Bloom

    Life in Bloom

    5.15 1949 HD

    About the life of the Russian biologist Ivan Michurin. 1912 year. Having rejected American offers to work abroad, Michurin continues his research in the Russian Empire, despite the fact that his ideas are not perceived by the tsarist government, the church and idealistic science. Michurin is supported by prominent scientists of the country and he continues to work hard. After the October Revolution, a small Michurin garden in the city of Kozlov (the biologist's homeland) becomes a large state nursery.

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  • 1928
    imgMovies

    Zvenyhora

    Zvenyhora

    6.226 1928 HD

    The momentous film stars Mykola Nademskyi as the grandfather of Tymish, whom he alerts to the secret treasure buried in the mountains of Zvenygora – a treasure that rightfully belongs to his homeland. The film wonderfully blends both lyricism and politics and uses its central construct to build a montage praising Ukrainian industrialization, attacking the bourgeoisie, celebrating the beauty of the Ukrainian steppe and retelling ancient folklore. Sergei Eisenstein said of the film, "As the lights went on, we felt that we had just witnessed a memorable event in the development of the cinema".

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  • 1928
    imgMovies

    Zvenyhora

    Zvenyhora

    6.226 1928 HD

    The momentous film stars Mykola Nademskyi as the grandfather of Tymish, whom he alerts to the secret treasure buried in the mountains of Zvenygora – a treasure that rightfully belongs to his homeland. The film wonderfully blends both lyricism and politics and uses its central construct to build a montage praising Ukrainian industrialization, attacking the bourgeoisie, celebrating the beauty of the Ukrainian steppe and retelling ancient folklore. Sergei Eisenstein said of the film, "As the lights went on, we felt that we had just witnessed a memorable event in the development of the cinema".

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  • 1958
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    Poem of the Sea

    Poem of the Sea

    5 1958 HD

    A Soviet dam project means that many old Ukrainian villages will end up under water. There are conflicts between the dam engineers and villagers who don't want to move.

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  • 1992
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    Dovzhenko. Diary. 1941-1945

    Dovzhenko. Diary. 1941-1945

    1 1992 HD

    An outstanding poet, student of Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Mykola Vinhranovsky reads excerpts from his teacher's diary, comments on it - thereby emphasizing the tragic fate of the great artist. The film uses a chronicle of the war and post-war years.

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  • 1940
    imgMovies

    Liberation

    Liberation

    6.3 1940 HD

    Wartime documentary by Dovzhenko and Solntseva.

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  • 1940
    imgMovies

    Liberation

    Liberation

    6.3 1940 HD

    Wartime documentary by Dovzhenko and Solntseva.

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  • 1926
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    Love's Berries

    Love's Berries

    4.4 1926 HD

    Jean, the hairdresser, is flabbergasted: what is that baby his girlfriend Lisa has put in his arms out of the blue? The fruit of love? Out of the question. From that moment on, the reluctant father has but one thought in his head: he must get rid of the cumbersome 'article'. And, take his word for it, all the ways are good.

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  • 1988
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    Downfall of Dieties

    Downfall of Dieties

    5 1988 HD

    While watching Dovzhenko's Earth a young man imagines himself a painter in a Ukrainian village in the 1930s. All is pastoral idyll until the authorities arrive with Soviet wrath for tradition and religion.

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  • 1961
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    Chronicle of Flaming Years

    Chronicle of Flaming Years

    5 1961 HD

    Once again, director Yulia Solnsteva directs a movie that her late husband Alexandre Dovchenko scripted but did not live long enough to shoot. In this wartime drama, the emphasis is on the heroics of both the civilians and the soldiers during times of severe stress in World War II. At the core of the action is one man in particular, whose sacrifices and heroics speak for a much larger group.

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  • 1939
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    Shors

    Shors

    5.2 1939 HD

    The year is 1919. German troops retreat from Ukraine. The Directory, the Ukrainian national government lead by Symon Petliura, takes control of Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik division commanded by Mykola Shchors is marching on the capital. The Bolsheviks capture the cities of Vinnytsia, Zhmerynka, and others one by one, but lose Berdychiv to Petliura’s forces. They are demoralized by the defeat. By his personal example of courage and military skill, Shchors inspires the retreating Red troops and leads them to victory over the enemy.

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  • 1927
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    The Diplomatic Pouch

    The Diplomatic Pouch

    4.2 1927 HD

    The Soviet embassy in England sends two couriers with diplomatic mail to Leningrad. The inspector of security police, White, and a group of policemen attack the Soviet diplomatic couriers at night. The documents get to an English trackman, who gives them to his son, a sailor in Portsmouth.

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  • 1927
    imgMovies

    The Diplomatic Pouch

    The Diplomatic Pouch

    4.2 1927 HD

    The Soviet embassy in England sends two couriers with diplomatic mail to Leningrad. The inspector of security police, White, and a group of policemen attack the Soviet diplomatic couriers at night. The documents get to an English trackman, who gives them to his son, a sailor in Portsmouth.

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  • 1964
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    The Enchanted Desna

    The Enchanted Desna

    5.3 1964 HD

    Based on the novel of the same name by Oleksandr Dovzhenko. About the childhood of the famous Ukrainian film director Oleksandr Dovzhenko, who was born on the ancient lands of Chernihiv, along the banks the Desna. The film consists of two parts. The first is the world shown through the impressions of the six-year-old Sashko. The second is the recollections and reasoning of Sashko, now an elderly colonel who liberates his native village during the war.

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  • 1929
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    Arsenal

    Arsenal

    6.7 1929 HD

    A soldier returns to Kyiv after surviving a train crash and encounters clashes between nationalists and collectivists. The story of the suppression of the Bolshevik uprising at the Arsenal factory in Kyiv by the Central Council troops.

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  • 1926
    imgMovies

    Love's Berries

    Love's Berries

    4.4 1926 HD

    Jean, the hairdresser, is flabbergasted: what is that baby his girlfriend Lisa has put in his arms out of the blue? The fruit of love? Out of the question. From that moment on, the reluctant father has but one thought in his head: he must get rid of the cumbersome 'article'. And, take his word for it, all the ways are good.

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  • 1926
    imgMovies

    Vasya, the Reformer

    Vasya, the Reformer

    7 1926 HD

    Lost film directed by Oleksandr Dovzhenko (his first film) and Favst Lopatynskyi. It is a satire of the NEP period. Vasia, the son of a factory’s worker, is attracted by the romance of adventures. And he goes to look for them. He saves a drowning drunkard who tries to beat him. Vasia escapes from him in a vehicle parked on the shore. However, the vehicle belongs to a superintendent who, when he does not find it, stages its theft. Meanwhile, Vasia exposes priests in the church. As a result, the church is turned into a cinema, and the priest becomes a cinema technician. And finally, Vasia’s last deed is catching a criminal at home and denouncing him to the militia.

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  • 1967
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    The Unforgettable

    The Unforgettable

    5.6 1967 HD

    About hardships of the first years of War, which fell to the lot of ordinary people in Ukraine, who got under the yoke of fascist occupation, and heroic struggle against the invaders. A young Russian woman asks a Red Army soldier to spend the night with her in the wake of the Nazi invasion. Fearing she may soon perish, the woman hopes for one night of romance before what could be a horrible demise.

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  • 2014
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    Mother. In the Name of Millions

    Mother. In the Name of Millions

    1 2014 HD

    Based on O. Dovzhenko's short story "Mother" about the tragic and majestic fate of a Ukrainian mother.

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