Docudays UA Film Club Transforms Lives of Probationers in Odesa Oblast

The Docudays UA documentary film club, established in 2023 at the local district branch of the Probation Center, holds screenings and discussions of documentaries for people sentenced to non-custodial sentences.

According to Lyudmyla Yakymenko, head of the Izmail District Department #2 of the Probation Center's branch in Odesa Oblast, film screenings have an impact on the center's clients and sometimes completely change their worldview.

Photo: from the archive of Lyudmyla Yakymenko

After the full-scale invasion began, the units of the Probation Center were assigned to work with people convicted of collaborationism.

"We had a probationer, a young man who was sentenced for collaboration back in 2022. We called him Kolyasik. And he was watching the films Fortress Mariupol. Orestes, Peace, Euromaidan Rough Cut, about people who stood up for freedom and got shot at. Kolyasik came to the screenings, often with tears in his eyes. Then he started to go to our volunteer center to help, came to the local Museum of Resistance, where relatives of the deceased hand over orders and clothes, where the belongings of our guys from Zmiine and other battlefields are kept. He listened to police officers and military personnel whom we invite to discuss the films as experts. Gradually, our Kolyasik grew up and changed. He became a very active person in the community. I believe that he will remain so in the future," said Liudmyla Yakymenko.

Photo: from the archive of Liudmyla Yakymenko

She noted that documentary films "hold" their viewers with the stories of their heroes. What they see on the screen makes them reflect on their lives, their actions, and encourages them to strive for more.

Currently, the film club also runs Ukrainian language courses, and since the beginning of the year, the film club, together with the entire DOCU/CLUB Network as part of the NGO Docudays, has joined another major project - the information campaign Sexual Abuse on the Internet: How to Protect Children. The Film Club in Kiliya has started educational work with the city's educational institutions and holds screenings and discussions of documentaries there.

Ольга Бабчук