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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Dymivka

Dymivka

The Murder of the Rural Correspondent Malynovskyi / The Rural Correspondent Malynovskyi

1926, First Film Studio VUFKU (Odesa), 6-7 parts / 1,903-1,997 m

Director: 
Panteleimon Sazonov
Scriptwriters:
 Dmytro Buzko, Panteleimon Sazonov, Volodymyr Zanoza
Cameraman:
 Heorhii Drobin
Artist:
 Ivan Suvorov
Cast:
 P. Matviienko (Hryhorii Malynovskyi, a correspondent of the village newspaper Krasnyi Nikolaiev), A. Olenich-Aleksieieva (Dunia, his wife), V. Piddubnyi (Andrii, Hryhorii’s brother, a murderer), Oleksandr Chuverov (Kostiantyn Popandopulo), Viktor / Vasyl Viktorov / Alieksieiev (Zhuravskyi, an authorised representative of the Committee of Poor Peasants), Arkadii Malskyi (Myron Symonovych, an authorised representative of the Village Council), Aleksandr Sashyn (Tuliupa), I. Doroshenko (Katka Popandopulo), Matvii Liarov (Stovbenko-Sorocha), Osyp Merlatti (Postolati, head of the agricultural community), Valerii Rozanov (Ivanov), A. (O?) Bielov, A. (O?) Symonov (kulaks), Teodor Brainin (a prosecutor), Oksana Pidlisna (a rural woman), Anton Klymenko (a militia man), Vasyl Vasylenko (Veselovskyi), Solomon Horvits (Dobrovolskyi), Dmytro Fedorovskyi, Kostiantyn Harin, Vladimir Uralskiy (peasants)

A remote Ukrainian village. A poor peasant Hryhorii Malynovskyi wants to expose those who resist revolutionary changes in the village. They are rich men headed by Kostiantyn Popandopulo who control the Village Council. Since poor peasants have certain benefits, the rich men decide to take Hryhorii off the list of poor peasants. Feeling angry, Hryhorii goes to the town and writes a letter to a newspaper. Malynovskyi is killed. The investigator solves the murder, criminals are prosecuted.

The film is based on the materials of the landmark case which made the headlines of the newspaper Pravda and was mentioned by Stalin. Kulaks allegedly killed the pro-Bolshevik village correspondent Hryhorii Malynovskyi in the village of Dymivka (later renamed after Malynovskyi into Malynivka, Odesa guberniia, now Mykolaiv oblast).

The film was released on 09 August 1926. The film has survived without the fifth part.

The film is stored at the Russian Gosfilmofond.