What is DOCU/SPACE?
It is the first online documentary platform in Ukraine established by the Docudays UA International Documentary Human Rights Film Festival. DOCU/SPACE has an online cinema and the archive of DOCU/CLASS workshops and lectures.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, Docudays UA will take place online. DOCU/SPACE is the platform where everyone can watch films from the Docudays UA 2020 programme between 24 April and 10 May. It includes 70 films from the competition and non-competition programmes in free access on the territory of Ukraine.
The Docudays UA 2020 programme also includes daily online streams of the RIGHTS NOW! human rights events, DOCU/CLASS lectures and meetings, and conversations about life and cinema between filmmakers and film critics. The recordings of these streams will eventually be available at DOCU/SPACE.
Besides, the platform features a permanent collection of Ukrainian documentary films created by various NGOs in cooperation with Docudays UA.
Why do we need DOCU/SPACE?
The decision to hold Docudays UA 2020 online has become a real challenge for us. However, we have intended to develop our own online platform for a long time. So the online format is an opportunity to transform and re-launch DOCU/SPACE. We want documentary films to be accessible all over Ukraine and the world. It is also an attempt to create an archive of contemporary Ukrainian documentary cinema, thus shaping its history.
Our goal is to inspire viewers for active actions by offering stories of ordinary people. These people could be your colleagues, neighbours in the country, they can commute the same bus, they do not do anything supernatural. Somebody has founded and headed up UABC (Unions of Apartment Block Co-Owners), enabling tower block residents to pay a justified price for the public services; somebody has grown up in a Roma settlement but has got a higher education and founded Legal advice office for the Roma; somebody has raised money and clothes for soldiers in the time of foreign military aggression. Characters of the movies are united by pursuing justice, making good causes and acknowledging that the state starts from people.
Now on DOCU/SPACE
Between 24 April and 10 May, you can watch 70 films from the Docudays UA 2020 competition and non-competition programmes at DOCU/SPACE. All the films will be in free access. For most films, there is no schedule; you can watch them at any suitable time. One exception is DOCU/UKRAINE films: each movie from the national competition will be accessible for 24 hours. Online streams of the RIGHTS NOW! human rights events, DOCU/CLASS lectures and meetings, Tête-à-tête meetings with filmmakers and film critics, and the Soup with Filmmakers will be permanently accessible at DOCU/SPACE.
The platform’s permanent collection also includes DOCU/CLASS workshops and lectures from previous years, documentary series New Heroes, Roma Dream and Encyclopaedia of Maidan about grassroots civic initiatives and the documentary film Can You Hear Me, Brother? about Oleksandr Hlyadelov and his photo exhibition.