PRESS RELEASE
The XV Docudays UA Traveling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival kicks off in October. This year, the most engaging human rights documentaries will be shown to residents of over 200 cities and towns across Ukraine. Traditionally, the Traveling Docudays UA will run until the end of December, visiting 22 regions of Ukraine.
Venues for screenings and film discussions include local cinemas, community centres, schools and higher education institutions, film clubs, creative spaces, bookshops, libraries, as well as penitentiary institutions.
The main theme of this year's festival is titled “Levels of Equality” and is dedicated to social challenges related to the concept of human equality. It is an invitation to discuss common stereotypes and determine how to practice equality in our daily lives—ultimately, to “measure” levels of equality. The core film programme is dedicated to groups of people who most often face inequality, experience discrimination in society, and are under-represented in the media.
This time, the Docudays UA festival’s journey across Ukraine will begin right here in the Ternopil region.
On 5 October at 16:00, at the “BunkerMuz” Gallery (1 Shevchenko Boulevard), a press screening will be held for Ternopil journalists. The featured film, “Mustard in the Gardens” by Piotr Armianovski, was the recipient of a special distinction in the DOCU/UKRAINE and DOCU/SHORT programmes, as well as the Andriy Matrosov Prize.
The programme of public screenings for the festival films will begin on 11 October in Buchach and Kremenets.
In the Buchach Central District Library at 15:00, visitors can watch the film “The Distant Barking of Dogs” (directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont), which won the Audience Award at Docudays UA-2018. It is an observational film about the life of 10-year-old Oleg and his grandmother Alexandra in a village on the front line in Donbas.
The screening and discussion will be followed by a presentation of Enver Djuliman’s book “Reconciliation. Signposts on the Way”.
In Kremenets, the festival will welcome guests at 11:00 in the Exhibition Hall of the Kremenets Museum of Local Lore.
12 October is Ternopil Day. We will offer three screenings of festival films.
At 14:00, at the Ternopil Regional Universal Scientific Library (15 Shevchenko Boulevard), a Special Event of Docudays UA-2018 will take place: a screening of “Ex Libris: The New York Public Library” by the patriarch of American documentary cinema, Frederick Wiseman. The director takes us behind the scenes of one of the greatest knowledge repositories in the world, showing the audience a place of hospitality, cultural exchange, and learning. In addition to the film screening, there will be a discussion on the role of public libraries in contemporary Ukrainian society.
At 18:00, you can visit the “BunkerMuz” Gallery (1 Shevchenko Boulevard) to watch “Gwendolyn” by Austrian director Ruth Kaaserer and discuss the theme of equality. Gwendolyn is the name of the film's protagonist, who inspires others with her irrepressible desire to live life to the fullest.
At 18:00, at STONE street cafe (19 Ruska St.), we will be watching the film “Whereareyoufrom”.
On 13 October, the festival will head to Zalishchyky, Monastyryska, and Ustia-Zelene.
At 16:00, our meeting point will be the “Vulyk” Youth Platform (48 Krushelnytska St., Zalishchyky). We will watch the film “Golden Dawn Girls”, a story about members of the Greek ultra-nationalist party “Golden Dawn”, which reveals the values and characters of people at the forefront of radical nationalism.
On 15 October at 16:00, we will meet at the Chortkiv Central Library…
The Traveling Festival will continue in the Ternopil region until 10 December.
Follow its news on the Facebook page: “Traveling Docudays UA in Ternopil Region”.
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The festival’s partners across Ukraine's regions include 49 leading youth, civil society, and human rights organisations, and 186 Docudays UA human rights media-education film clubs.
For more details on the regional screening programme, please visit the official website of the Docudays UA Traveling Festival: www.traveling.docudays.ua.
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The aim of the Traveling Festival: To promote the popularity and development of documentary cinema and to improve the level of respect for human rights in Ukraine.
The mission of the Traveling Festival: We create opportunities for every person in Ukraine to watch the most talented and relevant documentary films from around the world. In this way, we contribute to the development of critical thinking, the formation of an active civic position, and the promotion of human dignity as the highest value. By fulfilling our mission, we also promote the development of documentary cinema and enhance the level of human rights observance in Ukraine.
The festival is non-political and non-commercial.
Organisers: Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union; “Pivden” (South) Civic Organisation; “Charity and Health Fund” Charitable Organisation; “Centre for Modern Information Technologies and Visual Arts” NGO.
Partners: Ukrainian State Film Agency; International Human Rights Film Network; Campaign Against Discrimination.
Festival representatives in the Ternopil region: EHA “Green World” and the “Men’s Adaptation Centre” NGO.
The Docudays UA Traveling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival is supported by the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, the US Embassy in Ukraine, and the Culture Bridges programme, funded by the European Union and implemented by the British Council in Ukraine in partnership with EUNIC – the European Union National Institutes for Culture network.
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