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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Vanka and the Avenger

Vanka Ognev and his Dog Partisan

1928, Kyiv Film Studio VUFKU, 6 parts / 1,939 m

Director:
 Aksel Lundin
Scriptwriter:
 Dmytro Mukha, Leonid Lukov
Cameraman:
 Andrii Maine
Artist:
 Solomon Zarytskyi
Cast: 
Volodia Nolman (Vanka), Tasso, a German shepherd (Avenger), Pavlo Znachkovskyi (Duvarov, a staff counterintelligence officer), Tom Yavorskyi (Dmitriiev, a Red Army commander), Dmytro Fedorovskyi (Aleksieienko, a White officer), S. Meleshchenko (a spy), Vilkens (an old woman), Mykola Sadovskyi (a miller), Varenyk (an assistant), Anton Klymenko, Yurii Samarskyi (Red Army soldiers), Filatov (a feldwebel), A. (O.?) Petrovskyi, Hahin (a guard at the barn), A. (O.?) Neniukov (a guard at the gate), Konstantin Yevseev, Kotykov, Luhovoi, Kozakov (officers), Kedryn (a rural man), Malchenko (an orderly) 

The shepherd-boy Vania hides two Red Army scouts chased by the Whites in his hut. The boy holds it against the Whites as they killed his parents. The soldiers take him with them, and he becomes a scout. During one of his tasks, Vania steals some secret documents from the Whites’ headquarters. His loyal friend, the dog Avenger, brings them to the Red Army commanders. Thanks to these documents, the Red Army units capture a special unit of the Whites. When on his next mission, Vania falls into the enemy’s hands. He is sentenced to execution by shooting. The Red Army unit shows up on time to save him. Vasia is awarded a medal.

It is the first film of Kyiv Film Studio VUFKU (build in 1928).

The film was released on 04 March 1928 in Kyiv, on 23 October 1928 in Moscow.

The film is stored at the FIlm Fund of the National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Centre.

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