Docudays UA is the only documentary festival in Ukraine dedicated to human rights and represents one of the most important voices in European non-fiction cinema. During the Film Bridge section at the 65th Krakow Film Festival, audiences will get to see the deeply moving Songs of Slow Burning Earth, directed by Olha Zhurba – an audiovisual diary documenting the first years of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine.
Filmed across various locations throughout the country – sometimes closer to, sometimes further from the front lines – the work coalesces into an intimate collective portrait. Images of ruins and scorched landscapes are interwoven with brief conversations, silence, and the sounds of war and life that won’t stop trying to return to its natural course. It’s a record of transformation – from the panic and terror of the invasion’s first weeks through gradual numbness, acceptance of losses, and efforts to envision a new future. With masterful precision, Zhurba captures the moment when drama becomes everyday reality, and a new generation of Ukrainians begins living in the shadow of something that, mere moments before, seemed utterly inconceivable.
The film had its world première at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, and at the Krakow Film Festival it will be screened on Thursday, 29th May at 6:00 PM at Kino Pod Baranami (Blue Auditorium).
Furthermore, the festival programme features the following films about Ukraine:
- Kyiv Soloists (DocFilmMusic)
- Sanatorium (International Documentary Competition)
- Look Homeward (National Competition)
- People & Things (National Competition)
- Inga (National Competition)
- Zlata (Kids&Youth)
- In 769 km, New York (Short Film Competition)
- Paleontology Lesson (Short Film Competition)
The Krakow Film Festival is on the exclusive list of film events qualifying for the Academy Awards® in short film categories (fiction, animation, documentary) and feature-length documentary, the European Film Awards in the same categories, and serves as a qualifying event for the BAFTA Awards.
The Krakow Film Festival is organised with financial support from the City of Krakow, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Polish Film Institute, the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme. The Polish Filmmakers Association serves as co-organiser.
The KFF at the Barbican is co-organised by the National Cultural Centre as part of the cultural programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2025.
The 65th Krakow Film Festival is scheduled to take place from 25 May to 1 June 2025 and online on KFF VOD from 30 May to 15 June.