Ukrainian Film Research Articles

Singing Against the Grain: How Ivan Kavaleridze Navigated Socialist Realism in His Film Opera Natalka Poltavka (1936)

Abstract The article discusses the first attempts of Soviet culture to produce a hybrid genre of film opera in the mid-1930s. It traces the artistic background of Ukrainian sculptor and filmmaker Ivan Kavaleridze who was chosen to pioneer the new genre, as well as the complex national dynamic between Russian and non-Russian Soviet republics amidst the stabilization of Socialist Realist conventions and the launch of the anti-formalist campaign in the ussr. Finally, it addresses the issues of russification, exoticization and alienation of Ukrainian film culture of the time.

The Kino magazine and the parable of Ukrainian film criticism of the 1920s

ABSTRACT The article endeavours to uncover the lesser-known history of the Kino magazine, the principal professional film publication in Soviet Ukraine during the 1920s. As a companion to the All-Ukrainian Photo and Film Administration VUFKU, the magazine stands out as a unique emblem of Ukrainian socialist culture. It plays a crucial role in decentralising the dominant Russo-centric narratives of the era, offering valuable research sources that have been largely ignored in established film studies traditions.

The place of Ukraine in Mark Donskoi’s The Rainbow

ABSTRACT This article argues that Mark Donskoi’s 1944 film The Rainbow, made at the evacuated Kyiv film studios in Turkmenistan, gains an enormous amount when seen as a Ukrainian film. While the Odesa-born Donskoi is usually associated with his work at the Gor’kii film studios in Moscow, The Rainbow is one of a number of films he made at Kyiv studios, and one that is particularly productive when seen in the light of its ambiguous relation to Ukraine. On the one hand, Donskoi’s film is indicative of what Yuri Shevchuk has called ‘imperial appropriation’ and treats Ukrainian linguistic and cultural identity as a subset of Russian; on the other hand, through the evocation of the location of Ukraine, the casting and performance of celebrated Ukrainian actor Nataliia Uzhvii, the homage to the poetics of Oleksandr Dovzhenko, and the poignant if inadvertent relevance of the subtextual commentary about occupation and resistance, Donskoi created a film that enriches Ukrainian film history, and is at the same time enriched by being seen in this context.

The Earth in the Land: Internationalism, Regional Culturalism, and Cosmopolitanism in 1960s Films from Soviet Ukraine

Abstract In the film history of the Ukrainian ssr, the Thaw is regarded as the era of the rebirth of a national Ukrainian cinema. Both films celebrating regional diversity and films merely drawing on local crews and infrastructure are said to have contributed to a national film culture. I look at three distinct approaches to the Soviet concept of multinationality to show that the rebirth of a national cinema was characterized by approaches that did not claim a distinct national identity for Ukraine. Instead, directors facing regional diversity either transcended Ukraine’s cultural environment (through internationalism), undercut it (through what I call regional culturalism), or ignored it altogether (through cosmopolitanism). With the help of this typology, I point to the complex cultural politics of the time. The Soviet Ukrainian films I discuss exemplarily were not part of a common national project at the time, though they may have contributed to it as time passed.

Ukraine in Soviet Narratives about the October Revolution: A Case Study of Ihor Savchenko’s Film Ballad About Cossack Holota (1937)

Ukraine’s social, political, and cultural history has become a controversial issue since the 1990s. Dominant until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the discourse about the Soviet brotherly nations has since been contested by depictions of Ukraine as politically and ideologically divided over the course of its 20th-century history. Russia-Ukraine war that began with the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 Feb 2022 has had a dramatic impact on the process of replacing the formerly standard version of Ukraine’s past with new interpretations. At the same time, Russia’s war on Ukraine has also demonstrated that Soviet-era collective memory about the key events in Soviet history has outlived the Soviet state and has been mobilized for political use. When in pain of heart a Ukrainian politician says that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cancelled a shared past of Ukraine and Russia, he refers to a familiar discourse about these nations’ familial ties (Tkach). With this discourse now shattered, the question of particular salience is: How was the idea of brotherhood between Ukraine and other Soviet nations expressed and sustained? How did it evolve? In light of Russia-Ukraine war, the stories that were building blocks of the Soviet foundational narrative about Ukraine and Russia as fraternal nations are worth revisiting. An analysis of such stories reveals the mechanism of making Ukraine’s part an integral part of Soviet culture. In this paper, I discuss the issue of the evolution of the Soviet discourse about ‘eternal friendship of Ukrainian and Russian peoples’ in the example of Igor Savchenko’s film Ballad About Cossack Holota ( Duma pro kozaka Golotu, 1937), released by the Gorkii Film Studio as part of the celebrations of the twentieth anniversary of the October Revolution. Igor Savchenko (Ihor Savchenko in 24 | WEEReview 13 | 2024 Ukraine in Soviet Narratives about the October Revolution Ukrainian) was a Ukrainian Soviet film director who made films both in Russian and Ukrainian film studios; his work played an important role in promoting the idea of familial ties between Ukraine and Russia. Ballad About Cossak Holota is based on Arkadii Gaidar’s novella for children R.V.S. (1925) that is set during the Civil War in Ukraine, following the October Revolution. Savchenko’s film is especially interesting in how he reworks Gaidar’s story; he depicts events of the Civil War in the context of Ukraine’s 17th-18th-century history, drawing on Ukrainian folklore. Cossack Holota, a character from Ukrainian folklore, becomes a symbol of the revolutionary liberation of Ukraine, a promise of a just social and political order. Drawing on memory studies, post-colonial theory, and theory of deconstruction, I discuss the artistic means that Savchenko used in order to integrate Ukraine’s experience of the revolution and the Civil War into the Soviet discourse about the fight for Soviet power. Savchenko constructs Ukraine’s response to the revolution by making use of tropes of a big family, Biblical imagery, elements of folk culture, conventions of the adventure film. The study of Savchenko’s film contributes to our understanding of the debates about Soviet-era and presentday collective memory about the October Revolution and the Civil War in Ukraine and Russia. As the discourse about the biggest Soviet nations’ familial unity is yet another casualty of Russia-Ukraine war, it is important to consider how the idea of brotherhood between Ukraine and other Soviet nations was expressed in Soviet cinema. Such analysis explains why Ukrainian’s common emotional response to the start of the war was that of a feeling of shock and betrayal.

The Question of Language in Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema

Abstract Since the 2000s, various laws have sought to impose Ukrainian in film production. If until 2014, due to decades of Russification, it was not uncommon to see a Ukrainian film shot in Russian, the Ukrainian language has become increasingly dominant in national cinema. The law of 2017 demanding Ukrainian directors to shoot in the official state language has aroused questions and different positions among the film community: while some have tried to resist it, arguing a lack of realism and an artificial use of a standardized Ukrainian language in the context of a predominantly bilingual society, most filmmakers have been able to find creative solutions, by getting in tune with a society that is becoming more and more Ukrainian-speaking, or by resorting to surzhyk, a vernacular mixing Ukrainian and Russian. Apart from Slavic languages, minority languages such as Crimean Tatar have also found their place in contemporary Ukrainian cinema.

Ways to overcome the screenwriting crisis in Ukrainian cinematography of the second half of the 1920s

The relevance of the article. The history of Ukrainian cinematography of the 1920s is generally well studied. The relevance of this work lies in the fact that there are almost no works in Ukrainian film studies that examine the state of screenwriting in Ukraine during its birth and formation.
 Problem statement. After the end of the Soviet-Ukrainian (“civil”) war, which led to the Bolshevik occupation of Ukraine, there was an urgent need to reorganize the work of the entire cinematographic industry. With the organization in 1922 on the basis of the All-Ukrainian Film Committee of the All-Ukrainian Photocinema Administration (VUFKU), the heads of the new film department began to establish sustainable film production, but encountered the problem of a chronic shortage of film scripts.
 At this time, the “new” Ukrainian cinematography, for completely external reasons, experienced an acute shortage of screenwriters who had experience in cinematography. Film production, which was growing rapidly and unwaveringly, constantly lacked scripts that would be acceptable from an artistic point of view and at the same time be acceptable to the party bodies from an ideological perspective. Let’s note that there were essentially too many scripts, and film factories were literally “drowning” in the so-called “script flow”. But in this “flow” only a small part turned out to be suitable for implementing from an ideological point of view. Therefore, from the second half of the 1920s, it became increasingly common to talk about a “script crisis”, which was more ideological than creative.
 When the VUFKU began its work, “Soviet film dramaturgy” actually did not exist yet. Therefore, the directors turned to an old, time-tested source — literature. On the basis of literary works, they sought to make films more or less close to the spiritual and social trends of the time.
 At the beginning of the 1930s, the controversy surrounding the “screenwriting crisis” in Ukraine stopped. It was then that the management system of the film industry in the USSR was finally transformed. A clear vertical of soviet management with the film center in Moscow is being formed. Ukrainian cinema finally loses its autonomy and Ukrainian film factories start working with scripts approved in Moscow.

The depiction of the 1990s in Ukrainian cinema of the 2010s–2020s as a way of national self­identification

The relevance of the study. Understanding of this period — encompassing the collapse of the USSR, the beginning of Ukraine’s independence, and the experiences of contemporary filmmakers during their childhood and youth — remains pertinent and essential.
 The purpose of the study is to examine the stylistic and substantive features of the depiction of the 1990s by Ukrainian filmmakers in films of the 2010s and 2020s, and to prove that this is a way of national self-identification.
 The methodology. The following scientific methods were used: analysis (to process theoretical works, works on the history of art and philosophy, articles by film critics and interviews), comparative (to highlight the peculiarities of each of the domestic directors’ works), deductive (to highlight specific stylistic features from the general Ukrainian film process of the era of independence), synthesis (to highlight the tendency of directors’ approaches to depicting the past as a holistic phenomenon) and generalization (to write conclusions).
 The results. An analysis of the stylistic and substantive features of the depiction of the 1990s in Ukrainian cinema in the 2010s–2020s has revealed that this phenomenon is a way of national self-identification. The main thematic blocks that exist in the field of national self-identification in these films are: a critical look at the system of society; production of life values; deromanticization of the past; coverage of generational trauma; nostalgia for youth and childhood; the problem of national mentality and the past existing in the present; existential issues of the search for meaning; and identity crisis. The main tendency is to depict the formation and maturation of the protagonist in the story model of a coming-of-age film. In each case, the chosen thematic area depends on the way the author expresses his or her personal worldview.
 The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it is the first comprehensive study of the phenomenon of depiction of the 1990s and the period of the first years of independence in Ukrainian cinema after the 2010s, which is a way of national self-identification.
 The practical significance. This study can be useful for further in-depth scientific study of both the trend of depicting the 1990s in cinema and the process of national self-identification. It can also be used in teaching film theory and film history.

Artistic transformations of the image of father in the Ukrainian cinema during the Stalinist era

The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of artistic interpretations of the image of father in Ukrainian cinema during the Stalinist era, with special attention to the socio-cultural and political factors of the period, which fundamentally influenced the trends in the interpretations of the screen image of father.
 The methodology. On the example of the films “Ivan” (1932), “Wonderful Garden” (1935), “Aerograd” (1935), “Guerillas in the steps of Ukraine” (1942), “Third strike” (1948) historical factors were analyzed that fundamentally determined the peculiarities of the screen character of father during the years of Soviet repressions. In the article, a definition of the concept of paternalism in the context of the theory of law and statecraft is provided. Also in the article Ukrainian films of the Stalinist era were studied, in which the paternal concept “The state is father of its citizens” was fully manifested. Socio-cultural analysis of films, in which the figure of the genetic father was relegated to the background by Soviet ideology, and the role of the main educator of children was taken over by representatives of the Russian imperial authorities, was carried out. The paternal figure is considered in the broadest symbolic context — when the paternal role for a citizens can be played by an entire social institution or the apparatus of state power.
 The results. The period of Joseph Stalin turned out to be one of the most difficult in Ukrainian history. In those years, the Ukrainian nation faced numerous political cataclysms: industrialization, the Holodomor, deportation to remote regions of the USSR, repressions and World War II. However, the cinematography presented a completely transformed picture of reality, according to which the Bolshevik government was a kind and caring father for Ukrainians, but not a cruel tyrant. Nevertheless, even in such a tragic historical period, national directors were able to reflect in propagandistic films the longing of Ukrainian society for the traditional family system, and by biological parents in particular.
 The scientific novelty. The main attention is focused on the essential characteristics of the archetypal image of father and it makes it possible to analyze many Ukrainian classic films in a new scientific context.
 The practical significance. The article can contribute to further research in the field of several humanitarian disciplines: film studies, cultural studies, art studies, sociology and History of Ukraine.

Filmowe wizerunki przestrzeni Donbasu po 2014 roku w wybranych filmach o tematyce wojennej

The paper aims to analyse the spatial representation in contemporary Ukrainian films created after 2014, set in the Donbas region and revolving around the ongoing war. As I reference the specific spatial context, my analysis is grounded in the framework of spatial turn. It also is crucial for me to delve into the history of Donbas and the portrayals of this place in Ukrainian cinematography. Film ecocriticism constitutes a significant context, particularly concerning representations of natural and postindustrial landscapes, often ravaged by human actions, especially in the context of warfare. Referring to the concept of landscape, I rely on Arnold Berleant’s perspective, noting that culturally transformed landscapes hold the same value as natural ones, and every landscape contributes to shaping cultural traditions. In my study, I employ textual film analysis derived from general structural analysis. My considerations encompass productions, such as Klondike (2022) directed by Maryna Er Gorbach, Reflection (2021) and Atlantis (2019), both directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych, as well as Bad Roads (2020) directed by Natalia Vorozhbyt.

The selection of genres and forms in audiovisual art for the recording and artistic reinterpretation of wartime themes

The article studies the representation of war-related themes in cinematography, the selection of audiovisual forms and genres for their expression, and analyzes the influence of war on the development of art in historical and contemporary contexts. An attempt is made to systematize thematic components that filmmakers can use to create audiovisual works about contemporary war events in Ukraine.
 The purpose of the article is to explore the issue of choosing cinematic forms that allow for emotional proximity of the audience to the experience of traumatic wartime events. Additionally, it involves an analysis of the differences in approaches to handling war-related themes in art depending on the temporal distance between the creators and the events. The study draws upon the findings of previous research related to the concept of “postmemory” and examines how this concept can be applied to the development of contemporary cinema by Ukrainian directors.
 The methodology of the research is conducted through a system-oriented analysis and comparison of various forms and genres of screen arts, each of which possesses distinct means of expression for exploring central topics (narrative and documentary cinema, short and feature films, portrait films, and docudramas).
 The scientific novelty of the study lies in the attempt to apply international experience in analyzing the representation of traumatic wartime experiences in works of art, with the aim of projecting the application of these practices in the Ukrainian artistic context.
 The results. The depiction of war themes in art serves as a significant tool for preserving and transmitting traumatic emotional memories across generations. It is precisely the experience of wartime events that becomes pivotal in shaping the national identity, both at the collective and individual levels. In this context, the director’s task is to find the most suitable cinematic form to reveal specific stories. Despite the prevailing opinion in the professional Ukrainian film community and society regarding the inappropriateness of producing fictional films about the contemporary war in Ukraine, research demonstrates that the traumatic experience undergone by Ukrainians today requires documentation, representation, and artistic reinterpretation in close proximity to the ongoing events.
 The scientific novelty of the research lies in the analysis of the application of the concept of “postmemory” and the exploration of ways in which this concept can be used to shape the contemporary cinematic language of Ukrainian directors. Additionally, the article outlines several thematic areas within which modern cinematographers can seek specific stories and characters for their future works.
 The practical significance. Various formats and genres of screen media can be applied for this purpose, including short and feature films, documentaries, and fictional films, as well as works in such genres like portraiture, sketches, and docudramas. The research emphasizes the appropriateness of creating and comparatively analyzing diverse artistic forms dedicated to the theme of war in literature, cinematography, visual arts, music, and more. Regardless of the chosen thematic dimensions in which an author works, it is crucial to remember the power of personal stories and experiences that can provide an understanding of the enormous scale of wartime tragedy.

The formation of Ukrainian documentary film directing in the second half of the 1920s

The scientific relevance. The formation and development of the newsreels and documentary films in Ukraine in the 1920s remains one of the least researched pages in the history and development of Ukrainian cinema. That is why the relevance of this research lies, mainly, in filling a significant gap in the history of Ukrainian cinema. A detailed study of newsreels and documentary films production will allow to reveal trends in the development of the Ukrainian film industry in the 1920s in the field of documentary films.
 The purpose of the article is to study the specifics of the VUFKU policy on strengthening the material and technical base of Ukrainian film production during the 1920s, to study and analyze the history of the formation and development of the production of newsreels and documentary films in the specified period.
 The methodology of analysis of the problem consists in using, first of all, the historical-systemic approach, which provides an opportunity to understand the dynamics of the development of newsreels and documentary films at a specific historical stage. The problem-chronological approach made it possible to distinguish by year the main directions of the VUFKU activity in the development of newsreels and documentary cinema within the defined chronological framework. The historical-systemic approach made it possible to understand the dynamics of the development of Ukrainian cinematography in the field of documentary cinema as a system at a specific historical stage.
 The results of the research are that the article examines the prerequisites that served as an impetus for the emergence of a special technical basis for shooting newsreels. The way of development and establishment of newsreels production is considered. Genre and thematic directions of newsreels, types of newsreels, as well as the circumstances that led to the development of the production of newsreels and documentary films are analyzed. The composition, features and functions of the elements of the Ukrainian organizational and creative model of cinematography have been established.
 The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the article for the first time, on the basis of a complex analysis, researches the process of transformation of structural elements of Ukrainian cinematography in order to establish the release of newsreels and documentary films.
 The practical significance of the article lies in the fact that the results of the study will contribute to the filling of the “white spots” in the history of Ukrainian cinematography, in particular, the establishment of newsreels and documentary cinema as a component of Ukrainian cinematography, which contributes to the creation of a holistic concept of the development of domestic cinema, further understanding of the film production process of the past and present. The materials of the article can be used in further scientific and theoretical researches, during the creation of training manuals and separate sections of the history of Ukrainian cinema.

Syncretic essence of the behavioral nature of the Ukrainian screen hero

The purpose of the article is to investigate the dependence of the thematic impact of a screen work on the emotional sphere of the Ukrainian audience and the specifics of the behavioral manifestation of the screen hero. To determine the dependence of psychophysical reactions on the nature of fear. To determine the nature of the influence of syncretism of cultures on the formation of topics that concern the audience in Ukraine.
 The methodology. The study of the behavior of the Ukrainian screen hero in the process of analyzing Ukrainian screen works of the last 50 years. Determina-tion of the dependence of heroes on the theme of the movie. Study of analytical works on the nature of human fear. Participation in specialized international conferences with reports on the topic. An experimental way of studying the relationship between the nature of fear and the palette of psychophysical manifestations of the performers’ behavioral characteristics. A perfor-mance was staged with 15 actors and shown to the audience.
 The results. The nature of emotional transformation as a result of the syncretism of the pagan and Christian paradigms was established. The impact of this on the creation of an adaptive defense mechanism in the form of active mimicry. Replacement of the authentic value culture with the borrowed one. Development of a psychological model of secondary nature in the self-perception of the vast majority of society as the basic one. Transformation of the types and scale of the impact of fear. The field of conflict was identified, which encourages the hero to return to authentic cultural values.
 The scientific novelty. Using the analysis of the nature of fear to select the behavioral manifestations of on-screen heroes will create an opportunity to maximize the capture of viewer attention through recognizable themes.
 The practical significance. The application of the proposed mechanism in the drama of screen works will stimulate Ukrainian film production as a result of increased demand for it among the audience. This, in turn, will have a quantitative, qualitative and profitable impact on the development of this art form.

Cinema of Rupture: Urbicide, Eastern European Rubble Films, and the Documentary Impulse

AbstractCurrently in Ukraine, and previously in conflicts such as the Bosnian War (1992–96), local film collectives have expanded the mediation of wars to include the perspectives of those close to their subjects, foregrounding the participation of filmmakers in the wartime urban setting. In the 1990s, during the four‐year‐long siege of Bosnia’s capital, the collective Sarajevo Group of Artists (SAGA) produced sixty films of varying lengths, many of which included footage of destroyed buildings. Since 2014, several Ukrainian video projects and collectives, including Babylon’13, Freefilmers, War Against War, and Thickets (Khashchi), have made films documenting various aspects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although there is no evidence of direct influence, structural and contextual similarities make SAGA an important earlier model for Ukrainian collectives of local filmmakers determined to define the consequences and experiences of war from the perspective of those with personal stakes in the conflict. This essay comparatively examines the creative wartime documentaries of Bosnian and Ukrainian film collectives specifically to consider how filmmakers with close personal connections to conflicts produce documentary representations of wartime destruction

Changes in the representation of heroes in contemporary Ukrainian cinema

This article examines current trends in the changing concept of the hero in recent Ukrainian cinema and the related tendency to neglect authentic Ukrainian culture on account of the pervasive influence of Western traditions in cinema. The article employs various, academic methods of art criticism: literary and film analysis, comparison, synthesis, analogy and typologisation. Analysing several films from the period of independent Ukraine, Cyborgs: Heroes Never Die (2017, dir. Akhtem Seitablayev), Sniper. The White Raven (2022, dir. Marian Bushan) and Klondike (2022, dir. Maryna Er Gorbach), the authors show that the depiction of Ukrainian film heroes depends on contemporary local events. The contemporary hero of Ukrainian cinema emerges as an ambiguous figure.

Ukraiński ruch filmowy we Lwowie w latach 30. XX wieku


 
 
 Title of the article: The Ukrainian film movement in 1930s Lviv The Ukrainian film movement in the 1930s was not developed on a wider scale. Due to the cost of the equipment and the film, few people could make films. Those who did included the members of the Ukrainian Photographic Society, who had completed specialist film courses. Their achievements included short feature films and documentary films, some of which were of true artistic merit. From the circle of Ukrainian cinematographers, J. Dorosz, S. Kułykiwna, W. Humecki and J. Bochenski deserve mention special. Moreover, the last two film-makers wrote about the necessity of recording Ukrainian cultural heritage; they expressed the need for patriotic, socially useful films. At that time, Ukrainian film criticism also developed in Lviv, In particular, it found expression in two outstanding periodicals published in the Ukrainian language, “Cinema” (1930–1936) and “Light and Shadow” (1933–1939).
 
 

Cinematic Culture During the War in Ukraine: Surviving the Year of Brutalities


 
 
 Russia’s war against Ukraine has brought a humanitarian catastrophe to Europe and disrupted previously established cultural practices and rituals. One such practice has been the making and watching of films, constituting a further blow to the Ukrainian film industry, which has already experienced modifications caused by the VoD (video-on-demand) business mode and the coronavirus crisis. This study intends to highlight how the culture of cinema changed in the cities of Ukraine in 2022 that suffered and are still suffering from shelling and fighting. Its findings are based on ethnographic observations, oral history, and secondary research of public data.
 
 

Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Ivan Kavaleridze, Leonid Skrypnyk: The avant-garde and philosophical explorations of Ukrainian filmmakers of the 1920s


 
 
 The filmmakers Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Ivan Kavaleridze created bold avant-garde works at the time when Ukrainian cinema was being established, at the end of the 1920s and early 1930s. In effect, the works of these two directors shaped the defining features of Ukrainian cinema. This article discusses the creative methods used by Dovzhenko in his three films Zvenyhora (1927), Arsenal (1929) and Earth (1930), which clearly depict Ukrainian worldviews and mentality. Kavaleridze’s approach is considered in the light of two of his films, Downpour (1929) and Perekop (1930). Already a recognized sculptor at the time, Kavaleridze sought unique forms of expression in film. The approaches these directors took towards framing scenes, montage, lighting and rhythm underpinned the theoretical propositions of their contemporary, Ukrainian film theorist Leonid Skrypnyk. The author suggests that this testifies to a deliberate and comprehensive search for new means of expression in all phases of filmmaking.
 
 

Ukrainian cinematography in the context of intercultural cooperation


 
 
 The article describes the production and distribution of Ukrainian films and establishes scientific guidelines that will contribute to a comprehensive analysis of Ukrainian cinema in the intercultural space. An analytical method was used to develop this topic, which is necessary for studying the art history and cultural aspect of the problem. In addition, the author used the methods of systematization and generalization to argue for the originality of Ukrainian cinematography and its place in modern culture-creating processes. The scientific novelty of the study is that it describes the work of film directors whose films were created as international projects.
 
 

Oleksandr Dovzhenko and the Soviet Secret Police


 
 
 The article reviews the specifics of the surveillance process of the Ukrainian film director Oleksandr Dovzhenko organized by the Soviet secret police. The main focus is on agents’ reports about the director’s work on the films Earth, Ivan, Shchors, and the screenplay for Ukraine in Flames. The article reveals that Dovzhenko was under permanent secret police surveillance, starting from the end of the 1920s until the end of his life in 1956. This surveillance was well organized; it was large-scale and complex in its nature and covered not only his professional but his private life as well. The purpose of the surveillance was to collect and analyze compromising, i.e., anti-Soviet information against the film director and, if necessary, to open a criminal case against him, and make an arrest.