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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The Struggle of the Giants

Two Worlds Machine

1926, Second Film Studio VUFKU (Yalta), 10 parts / 2,785 m

Director:
 Viktor Turin
Scriptwriter: 
Solomon Lazurin
Cameraman:
 Louis Forestier
Artist:
 Robert Scharfenberg
Cast:
 K. Platonov (Max Ringdal, the head of trust), A. Dodonova (Emilia, his daughter), Leo Negri (Rebeck, an engineer), Heorhii Sprantse (Georg Kurtniz, an engineer), Ival Lahutin (Kibas, a foreman), B. Honcharov (Johann Duk, a manufacturer), Oleksandr Dolinin (Hans Muller, a worker), A. Hryzunov (Jacob Miller, a worker), F. Drobinin (Reith, a communist), Oleksandr Arbo (Kergels, a supervisor), N. Shaternikova (Maika Kork, a worker), A. Ahramova (her mother), O. Olehov (Karl Gardel, a manufacturer), Yevhen Hriaznov (a friend of Reith), H. Marynchak (a friend of Jacob), Zherebtsov (Taras), A. Rudenko (a communist), Amburher (Deinhof), H. Zosimov (a communist), T. Shkliar (the first delegate), K. Yefimov (the second delegate)

This is a screening of Solomon Lazurin’s novel of the same name.

The engineer Georg Kurtniz invented a machine that replaces the work of many workers. Two powerful companies, headed by the billionaires Ringdal and Duk, compete for the right to own the machine. Ringdal wins. Kurtniz gets the billionaire’s daughter and a lot of money for the machine. The communist Jacob Miller calls workers fired by Ringdal to strike. Next to Jacob is the female worker Maika Kork. 

Workers want to destroy Kurtniz’s machine. The struggle is exacerbated when the second machine appears. It is even more sophisticated and threatens to put thousands of people out for work. 

This new machine is invented by the engineer Rebeck, a long-time competitor of Kurtniz both in the professional and personal life. This time, Rebeck receives a share of income and… Emilia, as Ringdal’s daughter abandons the looser Kurtniz. Workers declare a general strike which turns into an armed insurrection.

The film was released on 09 March 1926 in Kyiv, on 18 October 1927 in Moscow.

Censorial document

Editorial script