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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Cement

Cement

1928, First Film Studio VUFKU (Odesa), 8 parts / 2,258 m

Director:
 Volodymyr Vilner
Scriptwriter:
 Davyd Marian, Volodymyr Vilner
Cameraman: 
Marius Holdt, Nikolas Farkash
Artist:
 Boris Erdman, Alexey Utkin
Cast:
 Hayri Emir-zade (Hlib Chumalov), N. Bohdanova (Dasha, his wife), Oleksandr Dolinin (Badin), Mili Taut-Korso (Polia Miekhova, head of the female department), Ivan Hrankin (Kleist, an engineer), Borys Zahorskyi (Shram, an engineer), Teodor Brainin (Hromada), Oleksandr Chuverov (Loshak), Mykhailo Smolenskyi (Savchuk), Ivan Syzov (Brynza), Volodymyr Lisovskyi (Serhii), Kostiantyn Koshevskyi (Dmytro), Yefimenko (Chybis), Mykola Nademskyi (Lukhava), Volodymyr Vilner (a lieutenant-colonel), Mykola Palnikov, Solntsev (officers)

 

Demobilised Hlib Chumalov, a former worker, returns to the ruined cement factory. He has the task to restore the factory and launch the production of cement which is badly needed for industrialisation. However, it is not easy, as the staff is demoralised by unemployment, old and new bureaucrats create obstacles, money and materials are lacking, and disguised “class enemies” undermine the restoration works…

The film is based on the novel Cement by the Russian writer Fedor Gladkov. The work was written in 1920 and published in 1925. Later, it was considered one of the first samples of a “production novel.” It was quite popular with the readership and received favourable reviews from Gorky and Lunacharsky.

Davyd Marian’s script was approved by the Higher Repertoire Committee on 28 December 1926. The shooting began on 10 February 1927 and finished on 16 July 1927.

Première: on 21 November 1927 (Kyiv); 20 April 1928 (Moscow).

The film is lost.

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