Short film evening and discussion ‘Reimagining Ukrainian Identity’
14 September 2026, 7:00 p.m. | KUMA Gerstenberg, Ziegelstraße 28A, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder) | Short films from Ukraine and a discussion as part of the KIU Summer School on the topic ‘Nationalities, minorities and identity: (Re)Configuring Ukraine?’. Open to anyone interested. Running time: 78 minutes
The short film programme brings together five films from Ukraine that explore questions of Ukrainian identity while highlighting the diversity of the country’s national and ethnographic communities. The programme challenges the long-standing perception of Ukraine as a culturally and ethnically homogeneous country shaped exclusively by a Slavic identity.
The films tell stories of, among others, the Greeks of the Northern Azov region in Mariupol, Crimean Tatars, and younger generations of Ukrainians living in Germany.
Filmmaker Daria Pyshna (Deep Plate) will attend the screening in person and will be available for questions, while Sashko Protyah (Khayt) will join the discussion online.
The KIU team warmly invites you to join us for the screening!
Organised by the Competence Network for Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder)–Berlin.
1. ‘Deep Plate’ | Daria Pyshna | Documentary | 15 min | 2025
In war-affected Kyiv, four Ukrainians whose identities fall outside conventional notions of Slavic identity reflect on belonging, culture and home. Drawing on audio interviews and accompanying images, the film weaves their voices together into a fragmented portrait of identity shaped by language, memory and place.
2. ‘Critical Condition’ | Mila Zhluktenko | Fiction film | 24 min | 2024
Inspired by the life and assassination of Ukrainian writer and politician Lev Rebet, who was murdered by the KGB while living in exile in Munich in 1957, ‘Critical Condition’ explores the experiences and fates of the Ukrainian diaspora, past and present.
3. ‘Khayt’ | Sashko Protyah | Experimental film | 9 min | 2021
This experimental film imagines the post-industrial future of Mariupol in 2068. A musician from Rotterdam takes part in an artist residency at the Centre for Industrial Heritage and discovers a city whose cultural life is shaped by the culture of the Greeks of the Northern Azov region and by Rumeic and Urum traditions. What might electronic music sound like if these cultures were to shape Mariupol’s musical future?
4. ‘Without You / Sensiz’ | Nariman Aliiev | Fiction film | 15 min | 2016
The short film debut of Crimean Tatar director Nariman Aliiev follows two young men travelling to celebrate their older brother’s birthday. When their vehicle breaks down, their journey comes to a halt. The sun will soon set, and there is little hope of finding help in this remote place. They eventually continue the long journey on foot, determined to be with their brother.
5. ‘Thus They Will Sing?’ | Anna Yutschenko & Diana Horban | Documentary | 15 min | 2020
A film collage about Ukraine’s Carpathian region and soromitski songs. These traditional songs (spivankas), featuring erotic and often bawdy themes, were performed at weddings, vechornytsi (traditional evening gatherings) and celebrations. Although singing such songs was considered improper in everyday life, they also conveyed ideas about the roles and behaviour of women and men.
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