About the archive

Filming across Eastern Ukraine revealed a vast European heritage, this archive gathers the fieldwork, documents, and locations discovered across Eastern Ukraine. We're keeping it public so this record endures beyond the films.

Where this came from

It started with a film.

While making Eurodonbas, the crew traced the European roots of Eastern Ukraine’s industrial towns — from the ironworks of Yuzivka to the Belgian soda plant in Lysychansk.

The research soon grew beyond what two documentaries could tell. What began as a production folder became a public archive of the places, people, and stories uncovered along the way.

Euro Kryvbas: Multicam shoot
Euro Kryvbas: Shooting on location
Fimlming in Mariupol: Illich Plant
Filming Donbas in May
Filming industrial areas in Donbas
Drone shot of a crew
Interviews with experts
Interviews with experts
Euro Kryvbas: Multicam shoot
Euro Kryvbas: Shooting on location
Fimlming in Mariupol: Illich Plant
Filming Donbas in May
Filming industrial areas in Donbas
Drone shot of a crew
Interviews with experts
Interviews with experts

How the records fit together

37 records · 68 links

Pinch or ⌘/Ctrl + scroll to zoom · drag the background to pan

Every record in the archive and what it touches. Hover to trace a record's connections, click to pin it, click again to open it. Drag a record to pull the web apart.

About the project

Where it comes from
Built from real evidence
Photographs, footage, interviews and research gathered making Eurodonbas, directed by Kornii Hrytsiuk, and EuroKryvbas, directed by Maryna Tkachuk and Anna Palenchuk.
How it is made
Researched on the ground
Field expeditions and filming, historical sources and oral testimony, consultations with local historians, and a photograph of every site as it stands today — with universities, museums and archives across Ukraine and Europe.
Why it matters now
Preserving what may be lost
Some of what the crews filmed is destroyed, damaged or behind the occupation line, and more of it is next. For those places this is the record that is left.
Next Stop
Heading south
Following Eurodonbas, the journey moves to the Black Sea coast and southern steppes. A new chapter exploring the hidden European roots, foreign settlements, and forgotten heritage of southern Ukraine.
Explore Tavria

Who makes this

435 Films
Kyiv · Since 2010
Founded by producer Anna Palenchuk to make features and documentaries about justice, human rights and Ukrainian heritage.
Its films have premiered at the Berlinale, IDFA, TIFF and PÖFF, with directors including Oleh Sentsov, Vitaliy Manskiy, Mantas Kvedaravičius and Akhtem Seitablaev. It also line-produced the Ukrainian shoot of RRR.
Production company on both documentaries. Its research desk is where the archive started.
Be Brave Films
Toronto
A Canadian production company co-founded by Anna Palenchuk, built to carry Ukrainian stories into international co-production.
It brings the films to partners and audiences outside Ukraine.
Co-producer on Eurodonbas and EuroKryvbas.

About the filmmakers

Anna Palenchuk
Producer / Writer
Ukrainian film producer, scriptwriter, and director who founded production companies including 435 FILMS and Be Brave Films. Her extensive portfolio features critically acclaimed international co-productions and collaborations with renowned auteurs such as Oleg Sentsov and Vitaliy Manskiy, alongside serving as a Ukrainian line producer for the Oscar-winning film RRR.
Kornii Hrytsiuk
Director / Writer
Kornii Hrytsiuk (born March 3, 1991) is a Ukrainian film director, screenwriter, and editor known for creating thought-provoking documentaries and mockumentaries that explore Ukraine's contemporary reality, historical truths, and the impacts of war. He frequently collaborates with Ukrainian production companies to challenge historical propaganda and amplify the voices of everyday citizens.
Maryna Tkachuk
Director / Writer
Maryna Tkachuk is a storyteller with over 20 years of experience in journalism, filmmaking, and scriptwriting. A graduate of the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, she specializes in narratives on historical memory, identity, and resilience. Her films include Family Album (2023), linking the Holodomor and the Russo-Ukrainian war, and Three Ivans (2019), a documentary on the Ukrainian diaspora in Kazakhstan. She also directed Women of War, highlighting women's roles in conflict. Maryna co-wrote the BBC-supported Yes, I’m a Woman and edited the French documentary Ukrainian Women.