Toloka

There is a ballad written by Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko called “That Catherine's hut is on the hill...". It is about a rescue of Catherine's lover, whom she saves by posing him as her brother. This story, as a parable, flies throughout Ukraine's history and reconstructs its dramatic and heroic episodes. Every challenge, including the Chernobyl accident, leaves Catherine without her home. But she is stubborn, as many generations of Ukrainians, in rebuilding her house out of pieces. The story is not only about Catherine's redemption, but also about Ukraine's survival throughout the centuries that is reflected in a folk tradition called TOLOKA.

Ukrainian film director, writer and actor. He is a member of Ukrainian Academy of Arts Member and the National Filmmakers Union. After Mikhail Illienko graduated from the State Institute of Cinematography in 1970, he's been working: since 1973 – as a Director at The Dovzhenko film studios, since 1997 – as a President of Open Night Short Film Festival, Mykhailo Illienkosince 2000 – as a Film Faculty Dean at Kyiv National Institute of Cinema and TV.