The film tells the story of people of a unique profession - rafters, or bokorash, as they were called in Zakarpattia, who floated timber down the Cheremosh River from the peaks to the valley. This profession came to an end in the early 1970s, and half a century later, the film is an invaluable testament to the history of the Carpathian region.
Documentary about the director of the Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi Historical and Cultural Reserve (Kyiv region), M. Sikorsky. Dr. Drektor speaks at a meeting and gives an interview. Employees of the reserve tell about M. Sikorsky. The Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Museum of Folk Architecture and Life is shown.
The second film of The July Storms duology starts with an accident at the Pochenkov Mine in February 1990, which caused the death of 13 miners. Since the summer protests, the real situation in the mines hardly changed; this lead to the second wave of miners' protests in 1990-91. This time, the miners' slogans include political demands, mentioning the decommunization of power and Ukraine's independence. The miners' representatives meet the communist officials, in particular with Stanislav Hubenko, the last First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and Nikolay Ryzhkov, the head of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The miners meet the August coup and the final disintegration of the country of the Soviets in strike committees.
Documentary about the members of the folklore ensemble "Drevo" from the village of Kryachkivka of the Pyryatyn district of the Poltava region, performing ancient Ukrainian songs. The members of the ensemble were filmed during a meeting with People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR N. M. Matvienko.
A film about the mass extermination of people by the Nazis in the Janowska concentration camp in Lviv. Former prisoners of the camp are interviewed. The camp orchestra plays. Photos from the Great Patriotic War and documentary footage about neo-fascism are used.
The film is about Ivan Honchar, an ardent collector of Ukrainian antiquities, who turned his Kyiv apartment into a unique museum.
The first film made following the nuclear meltdown accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, reactor 4, near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, on the 26 April 1986, focuses on the immediate aftermath of the disaster and the cleanup effort.
Reflection on the way the Soviet production system turns workers themselves into commodities.
A propaganda film about V. Hrabovenko who fought in Afghanistan. The hero of the film talks to passengers on the train while in his native village. The film shows a military hospital in Dushanbe (Tajik SSR), where the wounded V. Grabovenko was treated. Surgeon Y. Vorobiev gives an interview.
In the Volyn region, in a monastery of the XVI century, an old people’s home is located. However, mental patients and former criminals also live there.
In 1983, the documentary film "Soldier's Widows" was released on the screens of Ukraine, created by director Volodymyr Artemenko, whose father died at the front, and nine aunts remained widows. Based on real events, the picture about one small village of Melnyky in Cherkasy region, where a large number of widows lived, made a strong impression, because there were many such villages in Ukraine. At the Berlin Film Festival, one of the foreign film critics called Ukrainian widows the Madonnas of the 20th century.
In November 1988, director Anatoly Syrykh met with Sergei Parajanov in Tbilisi to make a documentary about him. However, Parajanov was clearly not in the mood to talk about his art. As a compromise, Syrykh offers to talk about the artist and time. The tired, offended director of "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" forbids Syrykh to film him. He agrees only to speak, recalling the most unpleasant moments of his life.
Documentary about the problems of lonely old age of pensioners of Chornobayiv District, Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine; pensioners give interviews during household work.
An innovative Soviet documentary film directed by Rafail Nakhmanovich. Most of the film was shot with a hidden camera, and the characters' lines were recorded live without staged scenes. The film tells the story of one of the most successful collective farm chairmen in Ukraine, Oleksandr Myaz, who introduced elements of market relations.
The Soviet authorities tried in every possible way to hide the truth about the shootings in Babyn Yar, because the victims there were mostly Jews. In 1966, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the shootings, for the first time a small group of Kyivans, together with the famous writer Viktor Nekrasov, gathered near Babyn Yar to honor the memory of the victims. Employees of the Kyiv Documentary Film Studio found out about it: cameraman Eduard Timlin and director Rafail Nakhmanovych. Under the guise of shooting a film about the Soviet police, they decided to record this event on tape.
Documentary about the famous Ukrainian philosopher and poet Hryhoriy Skovoroda, which was banned by Soviet censorship. The film only reached the screens 15 years later, during Perestroika era.
