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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KYIV FILM STUDIO

KYIV FILM STUDIO

Kyiv Film Studio

VUFKU made its first films at Yalta and Odesa Film Studios, established on the basis of the nationalised private firms. The predictable climate and natural light made these places perfect for filmmaking. However, the earthquake in Yalta in 1927 made VUFKU management board put all efforts into building the third film studio.

The new studio was built on the outskirts of Kyiv, in Shuliavka, on the territory of a former explosive storage magazine. The project was developed by Valerian Rykov, a member of the Association of Revolutionary Art of Ukraine. Kyiv cinephiles are likely to know Rykov’s other architecture project – The Ninth State Cinema or Zhovten Cinema in Podil.

The construction works began in April 1927. To finish the first sound stage until the anniversary of the October Revolution, the construction workers had to start their daily shifts at 4 o’clock in the morning.

And in October 1927, the shootings of the film Vanka and the Avenger (1928) began, though using the equipment from Yalta Film Studio, which had been destroyed by the earthquake. In a month, the first Kyiv Film Studio stage measured 105m by 36m by 21.6m (as long as a football field) was put into operation. The press enthusiastically reported on the long-awaited appearance of the biggest and most advanced film studio in Europe; and you can see its scale model in every detail.