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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Hamburg

Hamburg

In the Name of Democracy / Red Brotherhood / History of One Escape

1926, First Film Studio VUFKU (Odesa), 8 parts / 2,470 m

Director:
 Vladimir Balliuzek
Scriptwriter:
 S. Shreiber, Yurii Yanovskyi
Cameraman:
Joseph Rona, Marius Holdt
Художник:
 Heinrich Beisenherz
У ролях:
Heorhii Sprantse (Nils Unger, a Hamburg communist), K. Zapadna (Suzy, his wife), Kostiantyn Harin (Franz Buk, a traitor), Ivan Zamychkovskyi (Elsner, an old worker), Ya. Reinich (Elfrida), Leonid Chembarskyi (Willy, a driver), Oleksandr Chuverov (an investigator), Volodymyr Lisovskyi (a police chief), Arkadii Malskyi (Pfeifer, a sleuth), Volodymyr Lanskyi (a madman), Matvii Liarov (Mais, a Social Democrat), T. Ruzhytskyi (a judge), A. (O.) Symonov (an officer), A. Bielov (a burgermeister), K. Radmin (a Senate chairman), Komarova (Luisa, a prostitute), M. Smolenskyi (Oxen, a doctor), V. Krytskyi (Barfus), Mykola Nademskyi (a detective), Mariia Romanivska (Frau Dart), Leonid Barbe (a Social Democrat), Osyp Merlatti (lieutenant Lange) 

Germany, 1923. Hunger, ruin and strikes. Workers, called to fight by the communist Nils Unger, seize an arsenal of weapons and turn each building into a fortress. The Social Democrat Buk does not fulfil Unger’s order to explode the bridge across the Elbe, and the Reichswehr troops enter the city. The massacre begins. Nils Unger is arrested. Buk, tied to the enemy’s helper Mains, betrays the rebels under interrogation. The rebels face the trial. To avoid political publicity during the trial, Nils Unger is declared insane, but he manages to escape. And again one can hear his call “Keep the rifles!” on the streets of Hamburg.

The film is based on Larissa Reissner’s book Hamburg at the Barricades.

The film was released on 16 November 1926 in Kyiv. The film is partially saved

Hamburg. Kino №8, 1926