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The funny thing was that nobody showed much interest in the months after I posted my haul. There was only yourself and one or two others. I then got about six messages in a week at the start of the year.

I got stuck in the same place as you a few months ago, swo - they were perfectly willing to send the package, but needed a DHL account number which I was unable to provide. I phoned DHL and found out they won't create an account for an individual, it has to be a business. It sounded like a very involved process involving a credit check and very small chance of success for an individual. I looked into FedEx and UPS as well, to no avail. I'd be most interested to hear if you manage to find a solution, short of a personal vacation to Ukraine!

That would be a real shame if that red tape got in the way of you guys obtaining these sets. I can't imagine a group of people who would make better use of them. Could you not get them to send them to you personally after doing a bank transfer or something to pay for the postage? Is it only me (who got them to sent to a Ukrainian address), L.A. (who picked them in Kiev) and MichaelB (for the illustrious S&S), who have got stuff? Has anyone got them to send stuff outside of Ukraine?

I'm still waiting to hear back from them about other options. I'll post here if I get anywhere with that.

In case it gives you any ideas, here are a couple of the things I tried. At one point the Centre agreed to send the package to a friend of mine at their work, using the company's DHL account, but that fell through when the company didn't want to give away their account number and DHL wouldn't send collect. At another point, they had the package ready for pickup by UPS, but UPS required a bunch of export paperwork (available from a government ministry) which I would have been totally unable to fill out. I asked about sending a money order or bank transfer to the Centre, but they didn't seem very willing. Eventually I simply ran out of ideas and options.

Two Yuri Ilyenko films are showing for free at Cambridge Arts Picturehouse this weekend.

White Bird With A Black Mark (1970) - Friday 8 November 18:30
Well For The Thirsty (1965) - Saturday 9 November 14:30

Free tickets are available from here and major thanks to Cambridge Ukrainian Studies for screening the films.

Both of those films are fantastic--don't miss them!

A new DVD release from the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre, Хліб / Bread (1930).

After reading this thread I thought I'd sign up to add my two cents and ask a question ...
I've been in contact with the Dovzhenko Film Centre about getting a copy of the Ukrainian Re-vision DVD set. They are willing to send it to me and will not charge for the DVD set, as long as I pay postage costs. They have quoted me USD40 to cover that, though - ouch! I live in New Zealand so postage from overseas is always expensive, but that's pretty astronomical even so.
It appears that I'm not able to pay by credit card, Paypal, or even a regular bank transfer - the staff member I emailed asked that I pay via Moneygram. The institution doesn't have their own account, so the staff member indicated that I would send her a personal Moneygram transfer. I don't really doubt her honesty, but, hmmm. They really don't make it easy!

What do other forum members think? Did anyone here manage to get a copy of the DVD set direct from DFC and if so, how did you arrange payment?

Secondly - I've also just seen that the DVD-set is apparently on sale here at online shop From Ukraine with Love. Price is UAH300 + UAH99 for worldwide postage (about USD48 according to an online currency converter that I used). I might end up simply buying it here instead, for convenience!

I'd never heard of that online shop. I just placed an order for the Re-Vision set - I'll let you know if everything arrives safely.

Does anyone know if Ukrainian DVDs are available in Russia? Perhaps some Ebay Russia sellers would be able to get some of those titles.

kaleidoscopeworld wrote:Secondly - I've also just seen that the DVD-set is apparently on sale here at online shop From Ukraine with Love. Price is UAH300 + UAH99 for worldwide postage (about USD48 according to an online currency converter that I used). I might end up simply buying it here instead, for convenience!

Thanks for the tip. I've placed an order with them, and it took me to a "Verified by Visa" screen with my local bank, so it seems to be legit. In my experience, delivery times from over there can be extremely long, but I'll report back when (if) it arrives.

Numero Trois wrote:Does anyone know if Ukrainian DVDs are available in Russia? Perhaps some Ebay Russia sellers would be able to get some of those titles.

None of these Dovzhenko studio releases are sold in retail stores. In Ukraine, anyway, there's barely any Ukrainian films sold in media stores. It's all modern Hollywood and Russian shite. Sales assistants have been unable to compute my asking for the Ukrainian cinema section. You occasionally find the odd barebones title and a nice Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors release, but there's no market for these films.

Other than Russia being massive and home to vast amounts of piracy, I'm not sure why you expect to find any significant amount of these in Russia? It's a separate country and, as a whole, couldn't give one iota of a fuck about Ukrainian culture. That's like expecting China to be the bastion of Tibetan culture.

The Ukrainian Re-Vision set is now showing "out of stock" at the From Ukraine with Love site. Keeping my fingers crossed that I actually receive one.

Can anyone fluent in Ukrainian tell us what this is?

Google Translate says this release is 3 documentaries about the surgeon Nicholas Amosov (1913-2002), to honour the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Just heard from a friend of mine; he ordered the Ukrainian Re-vision set from From Ukraine with Love webstore and he got it today.

I received my set from From Ukraine With Love with the kind of love that normally attracts a restraining order. Box completely smashed, and water damaged, with the book water damaged as well. The book is a big thick bilingual affair and took the brunt of whatever apocalyptic impact the package received, so the discs and their slender cardboard covers were all intact. Since the set is now out of stock at the store and likely to never be available in any other, I'm just glad it arrived at all!

My set was literally hand-delivered by a Ukrainian and it still arrived with damaged corners, so you shouldn't complain!

zedz wrote:I received my set from From Ukraine With Love with the kind of love that normally attracts a restraining order. Box completely smashed, and water damaged, with the book water damaged as well. The book is a big thick bilingual affair and took the brunt of whatever apocalyptic impact the package received, so the discs and their slender cardboard covers were all intact. Since the set is now out of stock at the store and likely to never be available in any other, I'm just glad it arrived at all!

The Dovzhenko Centre sent me the set for only the cost of shipping, so you could get yourself another copy that way.

I ended up buying the boxset from online shop From Ukraine with Love, as it worked out cheaper and easier than getting it directly from Dovzhenko Centre (given the postage cost they quoted me + the money transfer fee, it would have cost me the equivalent of USD57). I also bought from them a copy of ЕНТУЗIЯЗМ | Enthusiasm (Vertov 1930).

It arrived more quickly than I expected - just 8 or 9 days from when the staff member informed me that she had mailed it. Mail from Europe generally takes 2-3 weeks, so I considered that very prompt! Unlike zedz, mine was in good shape. Mildly dented on one corner, but completely fine considering the distance travelled and the fact that it was just wrapped in paper (no box/padding).

It looks great! I'm really happy to get my hands on a copy. Sadly for others, I got the last copy from FUWL. (The woman from Dovzhenko Centre that I was in contact with informed me that FUWL don't have the right to sell the DVD-set, so I doubt the shop will get more stock).

Lastly, I see that Dovzhenko Centre's website now lists a DVD release of ЗЕМЛЯ | Zemlya | Earth (Dovzhenko 1930).

Шевченко 200

Have no idea what this is but looks interesting.

I'm sure you've google translated it but it's a boxset of six films on the iconic Ukrainian author Taras Shevcheko. One of these was available in the Mykolaychuk boxset.

I'll be trying to get a copy.

L.A. wrote:Шевченко 200

Have no idea what this is but looks interesting.

Someone from the Dovzhenko Centre emailed regarding the Shevchenko set, no English subtitles this time.

Щаблі демократії

Too tired to mess with the Google-translator (help from someone who is fluent in Ukrainian is much appreciated) but apparently the set has English subtitles.