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.

Supported by

Made by CASE digital studio

+  LOST  +

Fresh Air

1927, First Film Studio VUFKU (Odesa), 6 parts / 1,640 m

Director:
 Heorhii Stabovyi
Scriptwriter:
 Mykhailo Zats
Cameraman:
 Danylo Demutskyi
Artist:
 Heinrich Beisenherz
Cast:
 Mykola Kuchynskyi (Shkoda, fishermen’s otaman), I. Syzov (the second otaman), Rudakov (Bratchyk, a young fisherman), Mili Taut-Korso (Katka, Shkoda’s daughter), Oleksandr Chuverov (Savva / Spira/, a shopkeeper), Teodor Brainin (Odnookyi, a smuggler), M. Vynohradov (Leonid, shopkeeper’s son), T. Kochkina (a crying woman), S. Vasiutynskyi, A. Sashyn, P. Matvieienko (smugglers), Volodymyr Horytsyn, Yurii Vovchenko, A. Radzykhovskyi, Avksentii Dakhno (fishermen), Vasia Liudvynskyi, Yura Chernyshov (boys), Anton Klymenko (a militia man)

The demobilised Red Army soldier Bratchyk returns to the fishermen’s village.

Deceived by the “bookkepping” of the dealer Savva (Spira), Bratchyk convinces fishermen not to sell their fish to this greedy man. Savva (Spira) instigates the bandit Odnookyi to kill Bratchyk.

The fishermen find out about their plot. Savva (Spira) is arrested. A fishermen cooperative is established in the village, and Bratchyk becomes its head.

The film was released on 18 January 1927 in Kyiv and on 20 December 1927 in Moscow. The film is lost.

Previous
Next