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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Nikolay Okhlopkov

(1900-1967)

Охлопков_і

Nikolay Okhlopkov was a director, scriptwriter, teacher, film and theatre actor.

During 1921-1923, he studied at the State Experimental Studio (at Acting, and later at Directing departments). During 1923-1926, he worked at the State Theatre of Meyerkhold.

Starting 1930, he was the head of Moscow Realistic Theatre. In 1938-1943, he was an actor and director of Evgeniy Vakhtangov theatre. In 1943-1967, he headed Moscow Revolution Theatre (now Mayakovsky Academic Theatre). In 1955-1956, he was a deputy minister of culture of the USSR, and also a director of Moscow and Leningrad theatres. He staged operas in the Bolshoi Theatre of the USSR, lectured at the State Institute of Theatre Art (GITIS). He held the title of Professor, and was a corresponding member of Berlin Academy of Arts. He was awarded the title of a People’s Artist of the Russian Federal Soviet Socialist Republic (1942) and of the USSR (1948).

In 1927-1930. he shot three films, two of which were made while he was working at VUFKU. None of the films survived.

In 1927, his grotesque comedy Mitia was released; next year, there was a release of a pamphlet comedy Sold Appetite; and in 1930, being already in Moscow, he shot a historic and revolutionary epic The Way of the Enthusiasts