NewsNews23 April 2025

Over 30 stories on the big screen: Mykolaychuk OPEN Film Festival to screen 32 short films

32 films will be screened in and out of competition, 22 of which are Ukrainian premieres.

This year, the Mykolaychuk OPEN Audience Film Festival will hold its national short film competition for the third time. It will include Ukrainian films of various genres: science fiction, westerns, dramas, comedies, and experimental works — a total of 23 short films created by Ukrainian directors and producers in 2024-2025.

Among the works are new views on war, starring military actors Pavlo Aldoshin and Dmytro Linartovych, and multi-genre films featuring Darya Tvoronovych, Oleksandr Yatsentiuk, Maksym Samchyk, Darya Legeyda-Sova, Vladyslav Balyuk, Alina Cheban, Darya Plakhtiy, and others.

Short films by both debutants and experienced directors will be shown outside the competition, including Serhiy Aloshechkin, known to festival viewers for last year's hit "Morena." And the 2020 film “The Crime of Actress Maryskina”, which is only gaining relevance against the backdrop of the scandals that shook the Ukrainian theater a few weeks ago.

Among all the short films in the program, 22 are Ukrainian premieres.

“For us, the national competition of the festival is always a cross-section of those topics that are of interest to Ukrainian authors here and now. This year, there are more than 30 stories that cover the maximum range of emotions. They are of different genres and very different: they continue to explore personal boundaries, their connection with their hometowns and, of course, continue Storylines related to war and the military will develop," said Alex Malyshenko, the festival's program director.

The winning film will be determined by audience voting. It will receive a prize of $1,000, provided by festival partner AMO Pictures. The production will also provide an additional prize equivalent to $500 to a film of its own choice. This year, the festival has three new prizes of $500 from film festival partners:

the Syndicate brand will select a film that will receive the New Vision Award for the most interesting vision;
Space Production will award the best director of a short film (intersectional);
the Kyivstar TV platform will select the best script of the short film competition.

The Mykolaychuk OPEN short film national competition includes:

“Geese of Love”, directed by Artem Tumarchenko (Ukraine, 25ʼ, 2024);
The writer’s horror, directed by Serhiy Pudich (Thailand, 10ʼ, 2025);
“Drift”, dir. Anna Pavlova-Garshina (Ukraine, 7ʼ, 2025);
“Additional Scenes”, dir. Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Himey (Ukraine, 16ʼ, 2024);
“Birthday”, dir. Natalia Beck-Gerhard (Ukraine, Canada, 4ʼ, 2024);
“History”, dir. Vadym Mochalov (Ukraine, 29ʼ, 2025);
“History by the Fire”, dir. Oleg Karpenko (Ukraine, Germany, 19ʼ, 2024);
“Golden Linden Cups”, dir. Marko Podolyan (Ukraine, 20ʼ, 2024);
“When It Rains”, dir. Kateryna Tatarchuk (Ukraine, 14ʼ, 2024);
“Kyiv – Berlin, via Warsaw, Modlin”, dir. Dmytro Marʼyanych (Ukraine, 19ʼ, 2024);
“Curfew”, dir. Elizaveta Toptygina (Ukraine, 22ʼ, 2025);
“M+L”, dir. Yana Petrykova (Ukraine, 18ʼ, 2025);
“Birth”, dir. Yuliya Sukhostavska (Ukraine, 30ʼ, 2024);
“Teach Us to Fly”, dir. Liliya Syvytska (Ukraine, 21ʼ, 2025);
“Insult”, dir. Hlib Osatynsky (USA, Lithuania, Ukraine, 30ʼ, 2025);
“The Last (Extreme) Take”, dir. Oleg Kibalnyk (Ukraine, 22ʼ, 2024);
“Send a Ray of Goodness”, dir. Artem Bemba (Ukraine, 8ʼ, 2024);
“The One Who Will Warm You”, dir. Vladyslav Orekhov (Ukraine, 18ʼ, 2025);
“Territory of Childhood”, dir. Maryna Shkrabalyuk (Ukraine, 23ʼ, 2024);
“Driving Lessons”, dir. Anastasia Hruba (Ukraine, 18ʼ, 2024);
“Blueberry Summer”, dir. Masha Kondakova (France, Ukraine, 18ʼ, 2024);
“If We Reconciled”, dir. Svyatoslav Kvitka (Ukraine, 15ʼ, 2024);
“I Will Return, My Beloved”, dir. Mykola Karaman (Ukraine, 4ʼ, 2025).

A number of Ukrainian short films will also be screened out of competition:

“Uncle Tolya”, dir. Bohdan Adamenko (Ukraine, 18ʼ, 2023);
“The Crime of Actress Maryskina”, directed by Daria Dolesko (Ukraine, 18ʼ, 2020);
“Make Me Comfortable”, dir. Yevhen Shemet (Ukraine; 15’, 2024);
“The Perfect Friend”, dir. Serhiy Aloshechkin (Ukraine, 18’, 2025);
“The Estate”, dir. Yevhen Slupchuk (Ukraine, 9’, 2025);
“The Border”, dir. Anastasiya Tymus (Ukraine, 10’, 2025);
“The Orvin Award”, dir. Maksym Marchenko (Ukraine, 40’, 2025);
“Farewell”, dir. Darya Golosko (Ukraine, 17’, 2025);
“PATRES”, dir. Kateryna Yagodka (Ukraine, 10’, 2024).

The films will be shown during the Mykolaychuk OPEN festival, which will take place from June 14 to 21 in the city of Chernivtsi. Spectator tickets are already on sale.

Earlier, the Mykolaychuk OPEN festival announced the first film from the program of the fourth edition. This year, Ukrainian viewers will be able to see the work of Ivan Mykolaychuk, which since 1986 has existed only on film and was unavailable for viewing. This is the biographical drama “And in the Sounds Memory Will Respond…” by Timofey Levchuk (1986), which was scanned especially for the festival. Mykolaychuk OPEN will also host a pitching of short projects in collaboration with AMO Pictures. Applications can be submitted until May 16. by link

The Mykolaychuk OPEN Audience Film Festival will be held from June 14 to 21, 2025 with the support of the Chernivtsi City Council and the Ivan Mykolaychuk Cultural and Art Center.

General sponsor: Construction company "Vodogray"

Sponsors: Taistra Group, Bukovina Entrepreneurs Club, Grico, Ciabatta

General partner of the industry section: AМО Pictures

Partners: SPACE Production, Charitable Foundation "Ukrainovtvortsi", Bookstore E, ([Not] Handkerchief), SYNDICATE, Bukovina Film Commission, MTA, Nata Lux, Kyiv Academy of Media Arts, Grand Royal Hotel, Hotel Optima, Art space Kamerton, Buk Music, Divergent Agency, ЧТУ, ЧНУ ім. Юрія Федьковича