Over the last several months the UFCCU collection further expanded. Among newly acquired films are two feature shorts by Belarussian-born Maksim Neafit Buinitski “The Obstacle,” about children playing the games that are ominously adult and “A Short Walk Forever,” a humorous story of love, desertion, confusion, and naïveté, inspired by a Kurt Vonnegut story, both films were made in 2010. Former active member of the Belarusian student protest movement, Mr. Buinitski is studying for his film directing degree at the Ivan Karpenko-Kary University for Film, Theater and TV and  considers himself to be a Ukrainian filmmaker. The feature short “Rakhira” (2010), is a first work by Marian Bushan, alumnus of the same school. It is a screen adaptation of Olha Kobylanska’s classical novel “The Soil”. “The Bird Catcher” (2005), is an expressively rich exploration of the human quest for love and understanding in a depersonalized and fast-paced life of a contemporary Ukrainian metropolis, directed by Larysa Artiuhina. “Images of Polissia” (2006), a factually and emotionally loaded documentary by Serhiy Marchenko, about the fascinating folk culture of Northern Ukraine irreparably scarred by the aftermath of Chornobyl catastrophe. Roman Synchuk’s feature “Flying” (2008) poignantly discusses issues of old age.

We have also obtained the DVD entitled “The Assholes. Arabesques,” a collection of feature shorts, the first product of a wonderful initiative aimed at developing independent Ukrainian national cinema, shot by Ukrainian filmmakers, in Ukrainian, and about contemporary Ukraine. For a comatose Ukrainian filmmaking it is a breakthrough, truly heartening to the young generation of cinematographic talent and the cinema fans tired of waiting for Godot. The set has English subtitles and is all ready for an exciting rendezvous with international audiences.

Standing out from among the Club’s new acquisitions is the “Black Bird with a White Mark” (1970), a feature narrative by the classic Yuri Illienko (1936-2010), restored, digitally remastered, and with English subtitles. This dramatic and captivating story of the Dzvonar family caught in the whirlwinds of history, unfolding against a hypnotically beautiful backdrop of the Carpathian Mountains, echoes the fate of the Ukrainian people oppressed, humiliated, and brutalized by foreign invaders in the last century. It features an impressive line-up of actors, including Ivan Mykolaichuk, Larysa Kadochnykova, Kostiantyn Stepankov, and Bohdan Stupka. The “White Bird with A Black Mark” is Ukrainian filmmaking at its best waiting to be discovered by the Western viewers. The film was given to the Club by Pylyp Illienko, the late Yuri Illienko’s son, as part of the initiative to popularize his legacy around the world. Within the next six months eight most important feature narrative films by the master will be made available on a special DVD set. The Club also came into possession of the last and largely unknown film by Yu. Illienko “A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa” (2002), re-edited, with color correction and a Dolby sound-track, but for the time being no subtitles.

Our collection of Soviet Ukrainian film classic has also grown thanks to a recent acquisition of “The Horsemen” (Vershnyky), by Ihor Savchenko, 1939. Based on the eponymous novel by Yuri Yanovsky this film exemplifies how history was fabricated and falsified under Stalin. A spontaneous popular uprising against the German occupation of Ukraine in 1918 and the “treasonous” regime of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky simultaneously engulfs town and village and is lead by the Bolsheviks, who as it were spring from the midst of the Ukrainian population. This piece of propaganda was designed to mobilize Ukrainian national sentiments on the eve of World War Two within the Soviet realm. Distributed in the USA under the title “The Guerrilla Brigade”, it strove to show the great love of the Russian (sic!) people for their country.