Next week, from 2-7 December, the latest Ukrainian films will arrive in Brno again for the Days of Ukrainian Film festival, which showcases the best in current award-winning feature and documentary Ukrainian films that have been produced despite the ongoing military conflict. The festival will take place at Kino Art and Kino CIT, and is organized by the South Moravian Ukrainian Initiative in cooperation with the Prague Week of Ukrainian Film. All films will be shown in their original version with Czech and English subtitles.
The selection of films offers a number of stories set against the backdrop of the current conflict with Russia, as well as others which map life in Ukraine and its history. According to the organizer of the Brno festival, Iryna Zabiiaka, “we want the largest possible number of viewers to find “their” film at the festival. That is why we have documentaries and feature films, films about war and comedies, films for children and those interested in specific regions of Ukraine.”
The first evening on 2 December will be dedicated to the film ‘Honeymoon’ by Zhanna Ozirna (2024), about two newlyweds whose married life begins trapped in their apartment amid the horror of the Russian invasion. On 3 December, the harrowing war film ‘Mousetrap’ (dir. Serhiy Kastornykh, 2025) follows new military recruit Anton as he finds himself buried alone and injured in a trench cover after artillery shelling.
Two films will be screened on 4 December: ‘Malevych’ (dir. Darya Onyshchenko, 2024), a biopic of the passionate artist Kazimyr Malevych, followed by a debate with the director, and ‘Kings of Rap’ (dir. Myroslav Latyk, 2021), which follows a 17-year-old, Kazan, who has dreams of becoming a famous rapper and winning the heart of the girl he loves.
On 5 December, the film ‘Grey Bees’ will be screened at Kino CIT. The film takes place in the “grey zone” in the Donetsk region, examining the attempts of two retired men to survive in a small village without electricity, where only they remain. The film was released in 2024, directed by Dmytro Moiseyev, based on the novel of the same name by Andriy Kurkov.
Saturday, 6 December, sees the film ‘Dzhura Kralevych’ (dir. Anton Hojda, 2022) at 3:30 pm, and from 6pm, ‘2000 Meters to Andriyivka’ (dir. Mstislav Chernov, 2025), an intense documentary covering the last two kilometers of the liberation of the village of Andriyivka during the unsuccessful offensive in 2023, alongside one of the Ukrainian brigades.
The last day of the festival, 7 December, will see two screenings at Kino CIT: comedy ‘The Hafits’ (dir. Oleksiy Yesakov, 2025), about Jana, an egocentric careerist whose curse is that all her lovers turn into dogs, and ‘Stepne’ (dir. Maryna Vrody, 2023), the story of an aging man, Anatoly, who returns home from a big city to take care of his sick mother.
The Brno part of the Days of Ukrainian Film festival is organized by the South Moravian Ukrainian Initiative. In Prague, the Week of Ukrainian Film has been organized by the Ruta association since 2017, with the support of the Ukrainian Embassy. This year, the Week of Ukrainian Film and the Days of Ukrainian Film are held with the support of the Pylyp Orlyk Fund and Kinovarta. The festival was also supported by the Ukrainian Institute in Prague, the British Council, the City of Brno, and the South Moravian Region.
All films will be shown in their original version with Czech and English subtitles. Tickets can be purchased on the Art Cinema website www.kinoart.cz.
