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

+  VUFKU  +

Dovzhenko-Centre’s opening exhibition VUFKU. Lost&Found and a parallel program reveal the international success story of the All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration, a state organisation which shaped the booming Ukrainian film industry in the 1920s.

VUFKU united Odesa, Yalta and Kyiv film studios, developed filmmaking, distribution, advertising and education in the field of cinema, causing a real cinemania. Due to VUFKU, Ukrainian films entered the international market – our films were shown in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, the USA and Canada. Having signed agreements with the key industry actors like Kodak, Pathé and Agfa, VUFKU became one of the European film giants of that time and gained fame of “Ukrainian Hollywood.”

The multimedia exposition in Dovzhenko-Centre’s renovated premises 1500 square meters in area will present exhibits from the leading Ukrainian museums and unseen treasures from Dovzhenko-Centre’s collection. Rare shots from films, newsreels and animations, unique documents and photos that will take visitors back to the 1920s. The history of Ukrainian cinema avant-garde has many gaps: a lot of works are permanently lost, and some are only partially preserved.

To have a more complete idea of the VUFKU phenomenon, the exhibition curators offered contemporary artists to re-consider the lost masterpieces. The project combined the literature, music, design and visual arts of that time and today. Such modern authors as Alla Zahaikevych, Heorhii Potopalskyi, Oleksandr Burlaka, Anatolii Bielov and Sensorama, Mykola Ridnyi, Iryna Stasiuk, Oleksii Nikitin, Oleksandr Irvanets, Anton Sanchenko, Tetiana Maliarchuk, Natalka Sniadanko, and Iryna Tsilyk have contributed to the creation of the exhibition.

The project was implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Fund.

Read more...
GUIDE PROGRAM
1. INTRODUCTION ADVERTISING, GRAPHIC, DESIGN AVANT-GARDE: DYNAMICS AND STATICS FROM ACTION FILM TO KULTURFILM FROM DISCUSSION TO CENSORSHIP INTERDISCIPLINARY CINEMA LABORATORY KURBAS’ STAGE KYIV FILM STUDIO LOST & FOUND CINEMA MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SCREEN PICTORIAL LAWS IN CINEMA PUBLIC RESPONSE IN THE GLOBAL ATTENTION THE ARRIVAL OF A TRACTOR. Tractor (S)KhTZ THE ARRIVAL OF SOUND THE CITY, DRUGS, AND THE CINEMA THE SUCCESSFUL MONOPOLY WORD AND IMAGE (LITERATURE)