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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Street Kids

Street Kids

Reckless

1928, VUFKU's First Film Studio (Odesa), 5 parts / 1382 m

Director:
 Dmytro Erdman, Yakiv Heller
Scriptwriter:
 Lazar Frenkel, Heorhii Brasiuk
Cameraman: 
Heorhii Drobin
Set designer:
 Ivan Suvorov
Cast:
 S. Kozlov (Koska, the leader of street kids), S. Vasiutynskyi (an old drunkard), Iryna Insarova (Hanusia, his daughter), Vasia Liudvynskyi (Vasia, his son), F. Khokhlov (Chuhunov), E. Tykhonytska (Alia, his daughter), Tryhub (Viunok, a street kid), Yu. Chernyshov (a gipsy, street kid), Volodymyr Uralskyi (the head of the children’s commune), Anna Horicheva (a dealer), Oleksandr Chuverov (a janitor), Kh. Murat (Sailor)

A children’s drama. A boy named Vasia lives in a small Soviet seaport town with his alcoholic father and his sister Hanusia. The father is killed by his friends in a drunk conflict. Hanusia is sent to the children’s colony. Vasia joins the group of street kids.

One day, the leader of street kids Koska and his friend nicknamed Sailor catch Alia, shoemaker Chuhunov’s daughter, aiming to get a ransom for her. While Koska and Sailor negotiate with the father, Vasia who was told to watch Alia, lets her go and takes her to the father. The sentence of the street kids is clear – it is a betrayal. Koska and Sailor start hunting the boy.

Escaping from Sailor, Vasia gets on a sailboat that belongs to the children’s colony. He meets his sister Hanusia there and stays on the boat as a sailor.

The film was lost.