Still from the film “Vitya Hurov Goes to Italy” (2002, dir. Vitya Hurov)
Meno Avilys Cinematheque
2026 10 28–29
On October 28 and 29, “Meno Avilys” invites you to join a lecture, discussion, and film screening exploring the student film archive of I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television, and discover a selection of rarely seen Ukrainian student films from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television, has trained Ukrainian filmmakers since the 1960s. Its archive holds 700 student films on 35mm film stock, most of which have rarely been seen outside the university. Since 2025, Volodymyr Prylutskyi and Alik Darman have been digitising this collection and bringing it back to audiences through their research project Film Processing Workshop.
The event will be held in English. The event is free of charge.
PROGRAMME
28 October | Lecture
Speakers: Volodymyr Prylutskyi, Varvara Spilt
Lecture and moderated discussionwith film scholar and curator Volodymyr Prylutskyi surrounding the history of the archive, what it reveals about Ukrainian cinema, the research and digitalization of the collection, as well as the functioning of the Film Processing Workshop research project.
Language: English
29 October | Screening: B&W Retrospective: 98–05
Programme will be presented by Volodymyr Prylutskyi
An archival programme by film scholars Volodymyr Prylutskyi and Alik Darman, bringing together black-and-white films shot on celluloid by students of the university between 1998 and 2005. Their authors were the first generation to attend the film school after the fall of the Soviet Union. They had far more access to world cinema and far more freedom of expression than those before them. At the same time, it was one of the hardest periods in the history of Ukrainian cinema. State funding had almost disappeared, very few feature films were being made, and documentary filmmaking had nearly come to a halt. The films vary widely in form and subject, but they all share a sincerity and a sense of searching.
Some of them went on to receive international recognition. “Wayfarers” by Ihor Strembitskyi won the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2005, the first Palme d’Or in the history of Ukrainian cinema. “Shooting Range”, the graduation film of Taras Tomenko, received awards at the Berlinale and in Venice. Other films captured everyday life of the time, while their authors, such as Vitia Hurov, later disappeared from the radar.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with the audience.
Language: Ukrainian with English subtitles. Total runtime: 71 min
1. “The Taoist Looks Back” (1998, dir. Maksym Surkov)
2. “The Liftman” (1998, dir. Heorhiy Fomin)
3. “Shooting Gallery” (2000, dir. Taras Tomenko)
4. “Paper Troubles” (2001, dir. Bohdana Smyrnova)
5. “Vitya Hurov Goes to Italy” (2002, dir. Vitya Hurov)
6. “Dreams in the City” (2004, dir. Maksym Mekheda)
7. “Wayfarers” (2005, dir. Ihor Strembitsky)
Volodymyr Prylutskyi is a Kyiv-based film scholar, curator, and archivist. In 2025 he co-founded ‘Film Processing Workshop’, a research project dedicated to the archive of 35mm student films of I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television: 700 films made from the 1960s to the 2010s. The archive was the subject of his MA thesis at the university, where he is now continuing his research on it as a PhD candidate. The project is digitising the collection and presenting it through curated screenings in Ukraine and abroad.
This event is part of the Cinematheque Event Series at “Meno Avilys”, curated by Ona Kotryna Dikavičiūtė.
The Cinematheque Event Series is an ongoing project of “Meno Avilys” in which Lithuanian and international artists, curators, and researchers are invited to explore the Cinematheque’s physical and virtual archive of restored films and video art. The curatorial research is presented to the audiences of “Meno Avilys” via guest-curated programmes of moving pictures, public talks, commissioned texts, and literature recommendations.
Organized by: “Meno Avilys”
Supported by: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Lithuanian Film Centre, Vilnius City Municipality
Designed by: Mindaugas Gavrilovas (Studio Cryo)