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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Tetiana Tokarska

(1906-1984)

Tetiana Tokarska was a Ukrainian Soviet actress and director.

She was born on 10 November 1906 in Poltava. She studied at the screen department of the Odessa Film Technical School. She had her début in the film Mykola Dzheria (1926) during her studies. The movie was shot by German director Joseph Rona and Ukrainian director Mark Tereshchenko at VUFKU’s Odesa Film Studio. Tetiana’s partner in the film was Amvrosii Buchma, a famous actor at that time. In 1927, Tokarska played in another film of Odesa Film Studio – The Fair at Sorochyntsi. Both of films were successfully shown abroad in Paris and Berlin.

Later, Tetiana Tokarska played in many different films, including Not along the way (1927), The Crowning Performance by Clown Georges (1928), Oktiabriukhov and Dekabriukhov (1928, screenplay by Vladimir Maiakovskii), Contact (1930), The Italianka (1931) and others.

In addition to acting, Tokarska also worked as an assistant/second director (A Great Life (1939), Secret Agent (1947), Bountiful Summer (1950)) and as a dubbing director at the Kyiv Film Studio.

She died on 30 November 1984 in Kyiv.