UFF: Short Films, Block 2

BLOCK IISTILL SMOLDERING/SECOND SPRING/NOT DISAPPEARING/BRICK BY BRICK/COMING HOME/IN HER ARMS

WINNING

dir. Vladyslav Kalenskyi/2026/Luxembourg, Ukraine/12'

Description

An elderly couple is imprisoned in their village near Kiev when the village falls under Russian occupation. When a fire destroys their home, they are forced to seek shelter with their neighbors and find a way to escape.

awards

2026 — Official Selection for the 23rd International Documentary Film Festival on Human Rights Docudays UA, Kyiv

2026 — Official Selection at Doc Edge Festival 2026, New Zealand

2026 — Official Selection at Bengaluru Short Film Festival

2026 — Official Selection for the 37th Kinoforum — São Paulo International Short Film Festival

2026 — Official selection for the BLON Animation and Games Festival, Klaipeda

2026 — Official selection for Linoleum Animation and Media Art Festival, Kiev

2026 — Official selection at the International Gbaka Animation Festival/FIGA

2026 — Official selection at FINECAA #4

Metric

Genre: animated documentary

Directed by: Vladyslav Kalenskyi

Cinematography, editing: Vladyslav Kalenskyi

Producer: Ira Yeroshko

Language, subtitles: dialogue-free

Country/year/time: Luxembourg, Ukraine/2026/12'

VLADYSLAV KALENSKYI

Animation director living in Kiev. He was educated at the School of Fine Arts in Enerhodar, and then graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kiev. He is the director of the animated short films Morrow (2023), The Town on the Sand (2024), Echo (2025) and Ember (2026).

SECOND SPRING/ SECOND SPRING

dir. Olexi Chubun/2025/Czechia/18'

Sixteen-year-old Sasha, a dreamy teenager from Ukraine, lives with her mother in the Czech Republic. When David comes into their lives — a charismatic rowing coach who flirts with his mother — Sasha unexpectedly experiences his first love.

2025 — Official Selection for Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff

2026 — Official Selection for Friss Hús International Short Film Festival, Budapest

2026 — Official selection for International Film Festival ZOOM — CLOSE-UP, Jelenia Góra

2026 — Official selection for the International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS, Riga

2026 — Official Selection for Sehsüchte International Student Film Festival, Potsdam

2026 — Official Selection for the International LGBTQIA+ Film Festival SUNNY BUNNY, Kiev

2026 — Official Selection at Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

2026 — Official selection for the Finale Plzeň Film Festival

Genre: drama

Directed by: Olexi Chubun

Cinematographer: Helena Fikerová

Editing: Ruslana Kaminska

Cast: Danylo Samoilov, Olga Safronova, Michaela Krylova, Jakub Švec

Producers: Olexi Chubun, Tomáš Šimon

Languages: Ukrainian, Czech, English

Subtitles: polskie

Country/year/time: Czech Republic/ 2025/18'

OLEXI CHUBUN

Ukrainian filmmaker and director living in Prague. A graduate of the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) and the Wajda School in Warsaw. The film The Second Spring, which is his diploma at FAMU, reflects the author's perspective on the themes of displacement, love and the discovery of one's own identity.

I DO NOT DISAPPEAR/I DO NOT DISAPPEAR

dir. Nelly Shylova/2025/Ireland, Ukraine/7'

Fleeing the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian mother ends up in Ireland, where she remains in a state of suspension. A poetic documentary about emigration as one of the forms of death.

2025 — Official selection for the 54th International Film Festival “Molodist”, Kiev

2026 — Official Selection for the 64th Ann Arbor Film Festival

2026 — Official Selection for the 72nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

2026 — Official Selection for 21st South East European Film Festival Los Angeles

2026 — Official Selection for 13th Riga World Film Festival

2026 — Official selection for the 20th Dwa Brzegi Film and Art Festival, Kazimierz Dolny

2026 — Official Selection for 21st International Human Rights Film Festival Albania

2026 — Official Selection for the 45th Vancouver International Film Festival

2026 — Official Selection for 5th Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival, Glasgow

Genre: experimental documentary

Directed by: Nelly Shylova

Cinematography: Joe Smith and Nelly Shylova

Edited by: Nelly Shylova

Cast: Nelly Shylova, Richie Corcoran, Tommy Gaynor

Producer: Joe Smith

Languages: Ukrainian, English

Country/year/time: Ireland, Ukraine/2025/7'

NELLY SHYLOVA

Director, photographer and multidisciplinary artist based in Ireland. He studied film and photography at the Gorey School of Art (County Wexford, Ireland). In her artistic practice, she explores issues of forced migration, post-colonial trauma, gender inequality and body memory, combining personal experiences with collective history.

CEGŁA PO CEGLE/BRICK TO BRICK

dir. Genre: fabula, student etude

Directed by: Danylo Zavhorodnii

Cinematographer: Mariia Zaitseva

Editing: Danylo Zavhorodnii

Cast: Vlad Kovtun, Semen Horov, Mykola Volochai

Producer: Olena Tymoshenko

Language: Ukrainian

Country/year/time: Ukraine/2026/15'

Danylo Zavhorodnii/2026/Ukraine/15'

The attempt to evacuate his father from the frontline city turns into a painful return to a difficult past for Bohdan. An intimate drama about rebuilding broken family ties, identity and the price one pays to defend one's place on earth.

DANYLO ZAVHORODNII

Ukrainian director, graduate of Ukrainian Film School. After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, he took an active part in documenting events in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. He has also worked on the inclusive social project “Widczuj”, supporting people with hearing disabilities.

HOMECOMING

dir. Nika Saravas/2026/Ukraine/29'

An animated documentary showing the multi-generational history of the Nadazov Greeks. Through the lens of the fate of Victoria, who escaped from besieged Mariupol, the film explores the continuity of displacement, cultural resistance and the survival of the Romanian language in the face of successive waves of historical violence.

Genre: animation, documentary

Directed by: Nika Saravas

Written by: Nika Saravas; consultant: Dmytro Tiazhlov

Cinematographer: Yaroslav Pushkarchuk

Editing: Dmytro Tiazhlov, Ella Shtyka, Nikita Kuchai, Maxim Alokhin

Cast: Victoria Avdzhi

Producer: Ella Shtyka

Country/year/time: Ukraine/2026/29'

NIKA SARAVAS

Documentary filmmaker. Participant of the international project development program CineSud DocVillage 2025 in the Netherlands and the DocDays pitching session. At the centre of her directorial interests are themes of identity, memory and difficult community histories.

IN HER ARMS/IN HER ARMS

dir. Roman Volosevych/2025/Ukraine/20'

Georgy and Yaryna return home to the liberated territories, trying to rebuild their lives after the occupation. Their strenuous pursuit of normalcy turns into surreal isolation when a grenade trap left in the kitchen begins to take control of their mental state and perception of reality.

2025 — 22nd Seville European Film Festival: main prize

2026 — Official Selection for Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF)

2026 — Official selection at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Alicante

2026 — Official Selection at FEST — New Directors | New Films Festival (Espinho, Portugal)

2026 — Official selection at Ventana Cinéfila (Spain) for an educational program for schools, using film to debate key social challenges

Directed by: Roman Volosevych

Written by: Ihor Zitsev, Roman Volosevych

Cinematographer: Dmytro Zaglynskyi

Editing: Roman Volosevych

Cast: Darya Leheida-Sova, Akmal Hurriezov, Volodymyr Zakharchenko, Oleksandr Ivanov, Dmytro Konyk, Valeria Latko, Roman Volosevych, Artem Karataev, Roman Yefimenko, Marta Kuznietsova

Producer: Zlata Yefimenko

Languages: Ukrainian, Russian

Country/year/time: Ukraine/2025/20'

ROMAN HAIR

Kiev director, screenwriter and creative director. A graduate of the Kiev Karpenki-Kary University. Creator of music videos and short films presented many times at the “Molodist” festival (including Beasts, Velial).