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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Storm

Storm

The Lighthouse on the Black Sea / A Story About One Night

1928, First Film Studio VUFKU (Odesa), 6 parts / 1,901 m

Director:
 Pavlo Dolyna
Scriptwriter:
 Nataliia Biiazi
Cameraman:
 Yosyp Hudyma
Artist:
 Vasyl Krychevskyi
Cast:
 Ivan Zamychkovskyi (Petrovych, a lighthouse keeper), Yuliia Sontseva (Katia, his daughter), Yurii Shumskyi (Sylin, a port watchman), Anton Klymenko (Serhii, a young sailor), O. Merlatti (a general), K. Keleinykov (an adjutant), Mykola Palnikov (a colonel), V. Speshynskyi (a steamship captain), Borys Shelestov (a lieutenant), Yefymenko (a boatswain), I. Syzov (Fedorchuk, general’s steward), P. Kostenko (a mechanic), B. Chernov (Petro, a sailor), M. Mykhailov (a forecaster), Volodymyr Uralskyi (a tailor), Arsenii Kuts, A. Sashyn (soldiers

It is a drama about the events after the October Uprising in Ukraine.

In one of the Black Sea ports, captured by the White Guards, an important shipping with the English weapons and equipment for the White Army is expected. The cargo must be delivered no matter what, so the White Army soldiers order the lighthouse keeper Petrovych to make sure that the lighthouse is working properly. The lighthouse keeper’s daughter, Katia, notifies the Bolshevik underground organisation of the arrival of the military transport. One of the undergrounders manages to persuade Petrovych to extinguish the lighthouse. The transport with the English weapons for the White Army is drowned…

The film is lost.

The film was released on 28 September 1928 in Kyiv and on 12 February 1929 in Moscow.