Cinema That Brings Us Back to Our Identity: The Film Season by the Dovzhenko Centre Continues at Zatyshno Space

Today, Ukrainian films once banned by Soviet censorship are being watched by people who have lived through loss and evacuation, and who continue to experience the war.

Every screening is a dialogue between films that survived despite all bans, and people who continue to hold on despite the trials of war.

The Dovzhenko Centre team brings back films that spent decades in silence on archive shelves. Since spring 2025, the network of Zatyshno Space psychosocial and legal assistance spaces by EAST SOS has become a place where these film stories can not only be watched, but also experienced together – safely, among like-minded people.

“Not everyone is ready to speak after a film. Some sit with what they have seen in silence. Others feel anger or hope that had been dormant inside them. This is why we organize these screenings: to rediscover Ukrainian cinema in the archives and give it a voice where it is genuinely needed,” shared a case manager from the EAST SOS regional team in Kharkiv.

These screenings are about restoring the right to see our own history without Soviet filters and imposed interpretations. They offer an opportunity to look closely at ourselves and to understand who we were and who we are today.

The 2025 film season ended symbolically with screenings of the iconic films Zakhar Berkut (1971) and Chasing Two Hares (1961). Decades later, these iconic stories continue to speak to Ukrainians and remain an important part of our identity.

“I went to see the comedy Chasing Two Hares thinking I knew it by heart, but this time the film felt different. The Ukrainian dubbing seemed to remove a ‘foreign layer’ from it. I caught myself thinking that this is not just a comedy, but a film about us and about how easy it is to lose yourself while ‘chasing two hares,’” said a visitor to the space in Zaporizhzhia.

We invite you to keep exploring the Dovzhenko Centre archives with us. Together, let’s discover how the Ukrainian character has taken shape on screen across the decades.

Friends, we are opening 2026 with a new chapter in our film story. Register for upcoming screenings in the Telegram channels of the Zatyshno Space network in Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Vinnytsia.

The spaces in Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv are part of the project “Protection and Psychosocial Support for War-Affected Populations in Ukraine’s Frontline Regions,” funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. The Vinnytsia center is supported by the Solidarity with Ukraine Program of Fondation de France.

Earlier, we reported that from July to October 2025, film screenings at Zatyshno Space were attended by more than 200 people.