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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Judge Reitan

Judge Reitan

Doubleganger / Judge Reitanesku
1929, First Film Studio VUFKU (Odesa), 6 parts / 1,721 m

Director:
 Favst Lopatynskyi
Scriptwriter:
 Mykola Pankov, Favst Lopatynskyi
Cameraman:
 Yan Kraievskyi
Artist:
 Maia Simashkevych
Cast: 
Borys Kallash-Verbytskyi (Reitanesku, a judge; second role – Tom, a revolutionary), Zoia Valevska (Todoska, Tom’s girlfriend), Volodymyr Korsh (a military doctor), Berokhson (a prosecutor), Bratskyi (a military prosecutor), Lasko (Miko, a prisoner), P. Strohanov (a priest), L. Lanskoi (a court official), H. Rostov (a prison guard), Yevhen Vikul (an officer), Boreisha (an executioner)

 

 

Amidst revolutionary events in Romania in the early 20th century, the story of two men, as like as two peas, the revolutionary Tom and the judge Reitanesku, unfolds. The judge passes the death sentence on the revolutionary. However, Tom using their resemblance puts on the judge’s clothes and runs away. Tom’s wife does not recognise him and thinking it is his “executioner,” she shoots at him trying to deliver “justice.” Meanwhile, police also mistakes Tom for the judge and takes him to Reitanesku’s villa. The real judge is in the cell waiting for the sentence that he himself has passed. By mere chance, it is proved that he is really the judge. Police officers go to Reitanesku’s villa to catch the pseudo-judge. But Tom’s friends and wife manage to save him.

The film is lost