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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Swedish Match

Swampland of the Nobility / Cornet Kliauzov’s Escapades

1922, First Film Studio VUFKU (Odesa), 4 parts / 1,000 m

Director:
 Mykola Saltykov
Scriptwriter:
 Mykola Saltykov
Cameraman:
 Yevgeniy Slavinskiy
Artist:
 Іvan Suvorov
Cast:
 Kostiantyn Harin (Mark Ivanovych Kliauzov, a cornet), Baianov (a police superintendent), Yelena Yegorova (his wife), H. Slavatynska (Mariia, Kliauzov’s sister), I. Vysotskyi (Chubykov, an investigator), Arkadii Malskyi (Mykolka), D. Holdfaden (Zhekov, Kliauzov’s steward), V. Korolenko (a maid)

The wife of the police superintendent hides the retired cornet and landlord Kliauzov in her bath. The local authorities put Kliauzov on a wanted list. The investigative body looks into the matter of the landlord’s disappearance and suspects that he has been murdered.

The film is based on Anton Chekhov’s short story of the same name.

The film was shot in the autumn of 1922. It was demonstrated from December 1922 to January 1923. According to the materials of the Higher Repertoire Committee, in 1926, the film was compiled to 480 m to be demonstrated in the Red Army units under the name Swampland of the Nobility.

The film is lost.

The film was released on 31 March 1926 in Moscow (the compilated version).