VUFKU (All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration) existed for less than nine years (1922-1930), but it managed to release over 140 fiction films, several hundreds of non-fiction films and newsreels, dozens of animations, gain fame of “Ukrainian Hollywood,” and take under its control all aspects of the cinematic process – filmmaking, distribution, film press, propaganda, and education. From over 140 full-length fiction films made by VUFKU, about 60 films are considered lost. A lot of the surviving films have come down to us incomplete (without one or more parts).

The website VUFKU. Lost&Found is the first online collection of Dovzhenko-Centre’s media library and is perhaps the only online resource providing comprehensive information on VUFKU.

The mission of the VUFKU. Lost&Found project is to search and return to Ukraine the lost films of the 1920s. Traces of some of the lost films of that time can be found in international archives. Meanwhile, we are collecting archive materials about the lost films, restoring their contents, learning the context of their release.

These searches and analysis, restoration of films and their return to the cultural circulation require financial support. Donating to our fundraising campaign, which will start in October 2019, you will be able to contribute to the restoration of Ukrainian cinema.

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Oktiabriukhov and Dekabriukhov

1928, Перша кінофабрика ВУФКУ (Одеса) 6 ч. / 1666 м

Director:
 Oleksii Smirnov, Oleksandra Iskander
Scriptwriter
: Vladimir Mayakovsky
Cameraman:
 Yosyp Hudyma
Artist: 
Volodymyr Miuller
Cast:
  M. Tsybulskyi (Mykola Dekabriukhov), I. Vasylchykov (Ivan Oktiabriukhov). M. Yehorova (Mariia, his wife), Volodymyr Korsh (Verhkovnyi, grand prince Mykola Mykolaiovych), A. (O.?) Symonov (a general), Dmytro Kapka, A. (O.?) Bielov (wedding guests), P. Strohanov (a White emigré), T. Kochkina (Dekabriukhov’s maid), Heorhii Astafiev (a Cossack officer), Borys Shelestov-Zauze (a waiter), Tetiana Tokarska (Oktiabriukhov’s maid), Valerii Hakkebush (a White emigré with a flag), Onysym Suslov (a White emigré-porter), T. Dovbysh (a rural man), Leonid Barbe (Jean, a stoker), Viber (a young emigrant)

The script was written by Vladimir Mayakovsky to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution. 

The October Uprising of 1917 starts on the day of Mykola Dekabriukhov’s wedding. Dekabriukhov leaves his young wife and escapes abroad. Dekabriukhov’s life in emigration is limited to a small Paris café.  He entertains the Russian emigrants with stories of his “feats” in the struggle against the Bolsheviks, and eventually becomes “the hero of the day.” 

The president of France Poincaré invites him to his palace. It is not an audience with the president that awaits Mykola Dekabriukhov there but a notice that he is inducted into the White Army. Mykola defers from service bribing Verkhovnyi, and as a result he has no money and no chance to ever return home. 

During the day Mykola works as a porter at the railway station, and at night he puts on the uniform, and “commands” military parades on Kyiv/Paris streets. Meanwhile, in Russia, in the Soviet Union, his brother Ivan changes his last name to Oktiabriukhov, starts working for the Soviets, and marries Mykola’s ex-wife. On the day of their wedding, which coincides with the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, Mykola Dekabriukhov returns to the USSR. He sadly congratulates his ex-wife and his brother on their wedding.

Pre-revolutionary newsreels about Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, and also Polish and German newsreels of 1918-1922 are used in the film. Titles to the scenes of White emigré Paris are animated, styled on ROSTA Windows. 

The film is stored at the Russian Gosfilmofond.

The film was released on 01 May 1928 in Kyiv and on 28 October 1929 in Moscow.

Intertitles

Censorial documents