The 9th Traveling Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights in the Chernihiv Region is open!

On November 30, the Docudays UA International Traveling Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights will traditionally begin in Chernihiv and Chernihiv Oblast. To date, the most interesting documentaries on human rights have already been seen by residents of over 200 cities and towns in Ukraine, including residents of Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Luhansk, Poltava, Kherson, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Volyn, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Odessa, Sumy, Zakarpattia, Rivne and Khmelnytskyi Oblasts.

This year’s Docudays UA screenings are united by the theme “Four Degrees” and are dedicated to the problem of climate change and environmental protection.

Environmentalists predict that by the end of the century, the average temperature on Earth will rise by just enough to provoke natural disasters on the planet.

The festival invites visitors to become a catalyst for change and look at environmental protection issues from different perspectives – not only through cinema, but also through legal education and human rights activities, discussions, and eco-actions.

During a press conference dedicated to the opening of the festival, the regional partners of the festival – representatives of the NGO “MART” and the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights – spoke about the films and events that await the guests of the festival this year, from November 30 to December 10. The event took place in the premises of the festival’s partner in Chernihiv – the Chernihiv Regional and Universal Scientific Library named after V. G. Korolenko.

So, three open screenings are planned in Chernihiv, which will take place on December 2, 6 and 10. These days, screenings of some of the best films of the festival will take place – “Dzhamala’s Struggle”, “The Living and the Unconquered”, as well as “The War of Chimeras”. The open screenings will be accompanied by meetings with human rights activists and directors, film screenings in schools, vocational and technical and higher educational institutions and a warm friendly “mini-party” of documentary cinema. Information about the events will be announced in addition by the organizers.

On December 2, the organizers invite residents of Chernihiv and its guests to the Cultural and Business Center “Svitoglyad”, at 16:00, to watch the film “Jamala’s Struggle”. In the film, Swedish journalist Elin Jonsson recorded the life of the singer and her family in Ukraine and Crimea, telling the tragic story of the family and its current difficulties associated with the occupation. Through a personal and strong portrait of Jamala, as well as the song “1944”, the film addresses historical events, the deportation of Crimean Tatars and the current political problem. After the film, you will be able to chat over a cup of coffee or tea with invited human rights activists from the public organization “Crimea SOS”.

On December 6, at 18:00, the film “War of Chimeras” will be shown. This is a personal story of one of the directors, who rethinks her own traumatic experience related to the war in Eastern Ukraine. This is a journey of two lovers to the front line and an attempt at a life together after everything they have gone through. In addition, the organizers of the event, which will be held in the reading room of the Chernihiv Regional Universal Scientific Library named after V. G. Korolenko (Chernihiv, Myru Ave., 41, 2nd floor), have prepared a meeting for the guests with the film’s directors – Anastasia and Maria Starozhytsky.

And, finally, on December 10, at 4:00 PM, the festival will conclude with a screening of the film “The Living and the Unconquered” in the format of a friendly party, the venue of which will be announced by the organizers. The film will tell about 2016. Decommunization is spreading across Ukraine. In the Lviv region, in the very heart of the Bandera region, there is the city of Chervonohrad, which became famous as the first city in the Soviet Union where a monument to Lenin was toppled. However, even 26 years later, fierce disputes between supporters of different ideologies continue here. Before us are the poles of Ukrainian society: the choir of the Russian community “Living Memory” and the singing group of OUN-UPA nationalists “Unconquered”, which are united by the Chervonohrad People’s House. This film is about the deep, hidden processes that actually lie behind the toppling of monuments, and about how two parallel worlds intersect in the Chervonohrad People’s House.

These films will also be shown in the cities and towns of Chernihiv region – Nizhyn, Pryluky, Kulykivka and Kolychivka.

For reference:

Docudays UA




is the only international human rights documentary film festival in Ukraine. It is non-political and non-commercial, and takes place every year during the last week of March in Kyiv. The festival organizers are: Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, NGO “Pivden”, Kherson Regional Charity and Health Fund, NGO “Center for Modern Information Technologies and Visual Arts”.

Every year, in the fall, Docudays UA traditionally presents the best films in the regions of Ukraine during the Traveling Festival. Screenings last from October to December (inclusive). The Traveling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA is held with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine.

The mission of the Traveling Festival



is to 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 attitude to human dignity as the highest value. By implementing our mission, we contribute to the popularization and development of documentary films and to increasing the level of respect for human rights in Ukraine.

The goal of the Traveling Festival



is to promote the popularization and development of documentary films and to increasing the level of respect for human rights in Ukraine.

The festival is non-political and non-commercial. Admission to all screenings is free.

More details about the program of regional screenings can be found on the web resources of the NGO “MART”, the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, as well as on the official website of the Docudays UA Traveling Human Rights Documentary Film Festival:

Contact person:

Serhiy Blednov,

GO “MART”

phone: +38 073 481 37 27