Yuri Ilyenko

Adapted from Nikolai Gogol's stories, the film relates the tale of Piotr; too impoverished to marry his beloved, he makes a deal with the satanic Basavriuk in exchange for untold riches. But these riches come at a price.

A bishop returns to Montenegro from Russia in an attempt to unite the local tribes against the invading Turks.

This film tells what it was like to live in the USSR with brutal reality. A convict is forced to hide within a model of a hammer and sickle. Here a tragic romance ensues between the convict and woman worker; which is spoilt by the woman's jealous young son. (imdb)

This is based on the history of Hetman Mazepa, a controversial 18th century figure who was involved in the independence and joining of Ukraine, and the great war with Russia and Sweden, although many see him as a traitor.

An old, lonely man who lives next to a now rarely used well reflects on his life: on his family and also the people who would visit to take water from his well. He seems to see the past in nostalgic terms and the present as something far more grim and hopeless and so goes about building a coffin for himself.

Mavka : a mythological female figure, tall, round-faced, long-haired, and sometimes naked. The nymphs known by this term represented the souls of girls who had died unnatural deaths. They were believed to live in groups in forests, mountain caves, or sheds, which they decorated with rugs. They made thread of stolen flax and wove thin transparent cloth for making clothes for themselves. They loved flowers, which they wore in their hair. (Encylopedia of Ukraine)

Colourful 'optimistic tragedy' of a poor family in Ukraine, living in the Carpathian mountains near the Romanian border, during the Second World War. Five sons of the family make up the village band, but as the battles between the Nazi-supported Ukranian nationalists and the Soviets go on, their band loses one player after another. (imdb)

The film is a poetic adaptation of a series of stories (oral and written) about Princess Olha of Kyivan Rus’ (Ukraine-Rusʹ) at the start of the 11th century. Inspired by chronicles and folk legends this is a story of a common girl Olha who married Prince Ihor and became his successor on the throne after his murder and one of the most remarkable political leaders in early medieval European history. She converted to Christianity and brought her realm into Europe.

A story of two delinquent boys at a boarding school, struggling to cope with fathers who abandoned them, and retreating into fantasy.

The script about loneliness, conformity and the impossibility of creative realization scared the editorial censorship at the studio, and then at Derzhkino.