This year, the Ukrainian Film Festival in Alberta (UFFA) will showcase a selection of contemporary films about Ukraine in Edmonton and Calgary. These critically acclaimed films have received international recognition and won numerous awards.
Over two weekends, festival-goers will have the opportunity to experience some of the most outstanding works of contemporary Ukrainian cinema.
The UFFA is co-organized by the Alberta Society for the Advancement of Ukrainian Studies and the Forum for Ukraine Studies, an analytical publication project of the Contemporary Ukraine Studies Program at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta. The festival is held in cooperation with the Ukrainian Resource and Development Centre at MacEwan University and with financial support from the City of Calgary.
1. Us, Our Pets, and the War (2024) | April 4, 7:00 PM
Director: Anton Ptushkin
Rating: STC
Highlights the stories of people and their pets during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s armed aggression forced many people to leave their homes for places outside the war zone. While fleeing the war, people also saved the lives of their own as well as countless abandoned animals: cats, dogs, bears, lions, chameleons, lemurs, and more. The film also features famous pets such as Patron the dog and Shafa the cat.
2. Forever-Forever (2023) | April 5, 4:30 PM
Director: Anna Buryachkova
Rating: STC
After transferring from a downtown high school, Tonia joins a new gang that roams the post-socialist suburbs of late-1990s Kyiv, having fun and getting into trouble. Soon, Tonia gets caught up in an alluring secret love triangle, but her troubled past still haunts her. Will she be able to find her way, or will she lose herself in this risky new friendship? Some things only exist in the moment, while others last forever.
3. Horizons of Belonging (2025) | April 5, 7:00 PM
Director: Steven Brese and Oleksandr Pankieiev
Rating: STC
What does it mean to be a Ukrainian newcomer in Alberta? A film crew followed four Ukrainian families over a year in Edmonton and Calgary as they navigated the challenges of rebuilding their lives after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Horizons of Belonging is a deeply personal exploration of identities, displacement and belonging, shedding light on what it means to be a modern Ukrainian, and ‘start over’ in a new country.
Join us for an exclusive Q&A after each screening.
4. Under the Volcano (2024) | April 6, 4:30 PM
Director: Damian Kocur
Rating: STC
A family—father Roman, stepmother Anastasiia, teenage daughter Sofiia, and young son Fedir—are enjoying their final day at the beach, unaware that their return flight to Kyiv will soon be cancelled as Russian bombs begin to fall. On 24 February 2022 their lives are abruptly upended, and while anxiously awaiting news from home, they are left to grapple with the uncertainty of their future. Amidst the idyllic surroundings of the Canary Islands, the family’s inner conflicts and guilt rise to the surface, revealing the emotional paradox of being in a safe place while their homeland is under siege. As tensions within the family grow, dormant issues threaten to erupt, much like the nearby volcano.
5. Rule of Two Walls (2023) | April 6, 7:00 PM
Director: David Gutnik
Rating: STC
The film presents Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a war of memory, identity, and truth. Using live music performance, painting, street art, and the act of filmmaking itself, it aims to illuminate the psychological front lines of the new reality: going to a restaurant amid the near-constant blare of air-raid alerts and missile strikes; and processing, reacting, and resisting while attending to the rhythms of daily life. Blurring the lines between what is in front of and behind the camera, the film probes what it means to make cinema in times of war.
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