It is no secret that after decades of existence within the framework of Soviet cinema, with its very clear instruction to educate "real Soviet people," the cinema of the already independent Ukraine had to go through a long and difficult path of rethinking and restructuring. It is still going through it now - with difficulties and struggles, with ups and downs - but stubbornly and consistently. The Maidan of 2004, the Revolution of Dignity, and the war were the catalysts that accelerated the transition of cinema from territorially Ukrainian to substantively Ukrainian. In all its complexity and diversity, including cultural and ethnic diversity, this is a vivid and interesting phenomenon worthy of detailed study. It is one of the facets of Ukraine's cultural and political history that is being created right now. Therefore, we will be publishing our conversations with those filmmakers who consistently create new, independent Ukrainian cinema.

This series of interviews was born as part of the research "Postcolonial and Decolonial Processes in Ukrainian Cinema after the Maidan and the Russian-Ukrainian War" of the Postcolonialism Fellowship Program of the Piletsky Institute in Berlin.