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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On the Eve

On the Eve

1928, First Film Studio VUFKU (Odesa), 6 parts / 1,604 m

Director:
 Hryhorii Hrycher-Cherykover
Scriptwriter:
 Moisei (Mykhailo) Zats, Hryhorii Hrycher-Cherykover
Cameraman:
 Oleksii Kaliuzhnyi
Artist:
 Yosyp Shpinel
Cast:
 Amvrosii Buchma (Sashko, a musician), Mariia Diusimetier (Masha, a prostitute), Vasyl Krasenko (a worker), Yurii Shumskyi (Malyna, a member of the Black Hundreds), Anna Horicheva (a tavern owner), Petro Masokha (Artem Holovnia, a soldier), (Oleksii?) Kharlamov (a civil servant), Filippov (a student), N. Barsov (Professor of a music school), Krasnoh(o)ra(o)dskyi (a police officer), M. Mykhailov (the second civil servant)

The film is based on A. Kuprin’s short story Gambrinus.

Sashko, a musician, lives on the outskirts, among poor Jewish people. When he takes his violin, it starts crying and laughing as if it is alive; and that is a real talent of the guy. But Sashko is poor, moreover, he is Jewish, that is why the door to the music school is closed for him. The only place where he can gladly play are pubs for poor people and prostitutes.

1905 is drawing close. Sashko is subconsciously attracted to people who strive for freedom. A member of the Black Hundreds Malyna hates Sashko because he plays revolutionary tunes on his violin. The war between Russia and Japan begins.

Sashko is mobilised to the front. When injured, he returns. And again, one can hear revolutionary tunes in the pub; the musician challenges pogrom makers and executioners. Malyna and some of his people cruelly kill the violin player. Then, there is only his bloodied body and a silent broken violin on the stage.

The film was released on 27 October 1928 in Kyiv.

The film is lost.

At Odesa Film Studio. Кіno №10, 1928