In light of the inaccuracies and misconceptions we regularly face in the translation and Romanization of Ukrainian film titles and names, we’ve prepared this brief guide, which we strongly recommend to all colleagues in the field of archive film distribution to follow.
As is known, Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991, thus the majority of Ukrainian films from this period, being produced in Kyiv, Odesa and Yalta, were distributed internationally through Moscowian institutes such as Intorgkino and Sovexportfilm.
Subsequently, all titles were translated into English and other languages from Russian, not from Ukrainian (for example, the Ukrainian title Krynytsia dlia sprahlykh (1965) was first translated into Russian as Rodnik dlia zhazhdushchikh and then into English as A Spring for Thristy not A Well for Thristy if it was translated from the original title).
Similarly, all Ukrainian names were first Russianized and then Romanized (Oleksandr Dozhenko became Alexander Dovzhenko). In the internet era, these incorrectly Russianized forms were disseminated online and were mistakenly used in tons of film catalogs, articles, and even academic papers.
Title on film from A Well for Thirsty (1965, Yurii Illienko / Kyiv Film Studios), Dovzhenko Center collection
Our goal here is to help distributors, scholars, activists, critics and curators avoid these controversial fallacies.
Needless to say, at a time of decolonial revision of global history and in particular of the Soviet colonial heritage, as well as at a time of neocolonial Russian war against Ukraine, these Russified fallacies are not only lexically incorrect but also politically regressive.
We have prepared some general suggestions and tips from our side, but can also offer as a primary suggestion the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) Cataloguing and Documentation Commission document Decolonizing Film Catalogues.
1. Standards
Among the common transliteration systems, such as the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (PCGN) and the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN/PCGN), Scientific, ISO 9 or US Library of Congress Romanization (ALA-LC), in practice, we use BGN/PCGN or ALA-LC which allows us to apply similar approaches to the old and contemporary forms of international versions of the Ukrainian names.
Also, for practical reasons, we usually don’t use diacritics and ligatures in ALA-LC style (in this exception, we refer to the Slavic Department Courses at the University of Toronto suggestions and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute Publications Office Brief Submission Guidelines).
2. Titles
As Ukrainian films, we consider all titles produced by Ukrainian film studios (Kyiv Film Studios, Odesa Film Studios, Yalta Film Studios, Kyivnaukfilm, Ukrkinokhronika, amateur and independent studios) in different historical periods.
Even though most of them were produced/released in both Russian and Ukrainian or only in Russian, we suggest using Ukrainian titles as the main or alternative ones, borrowing them from the Ukrainian versions or secondary sources (film reviews, scripts, etc.).
Людина з кіноапаратом / Liudyna z kinoaparatom / Человек с киноаппаратом / Chelovek s kinoaparatom / Man with a Movie Camera (1929, Dziga Vertov / VUFKU Kyiv Film Factory)
Нескорені / Neskoreni / Непокорённые / Nepokorennye / The Unvanquished (1945, Mark Donskoi / Kyiv Film Studios)
Короткі зустрічі / Korotki zustrichi / Короткие встречи / Korotkie vstrechi / Brief Encounters (Kira Muratova, 1967 / Odesa Film Studios)
3. Names
Apparently, most of the filmmakers in the Soviet era had really mixed identities, drifting between different republics during their careers and lives. However, we propose to apply the Romanization of Ukrainian and Ukrainian versions of names to those filmmakers who were born in Ukraine and/or spent a significant part of their careers in the Ukrainian film industry.
Petro Chardynin, Heorhii Stabovyi, Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Heorhii Hrycher-Cherykover, Ihor Savchenko, Volodymyr Braun, Yurii Illienko, Leonid Osyka, Volodymyr Denysenko, Oleksandr Muratov, Sulamif Tsybulnyk, Feliks Soboliev, Kostiantyn Yershov, Ihor Minaiev, Viacheslav Khryshtofovych, etc.
As an exception, we continue to use an internationally accepted version of names for filmmakers with complex ethnic identities, although they contribute significantly to Ukrainian filmmaking.
Vladimir Gardin, Dziga Vertov, Mikhail Kaufman, Nikolai Ekk, Nikolai Sadkovich, Boris Barnet, Yuliya Solntseva, Sergei Parajanov
4. Other issues
If you are not sure, do not Google, ask, we are eager to help! The Dovzhenko Center scholars are interested in correct information about Ukrainian films and filmmakers in your catalogs, articles, websites, papers and books, and will be glad to consult or proofread your passages, synopses and technical information devoted to Ukrainian cinema.
With most titles and names there is no need to reinvent the wheel, as we have verified databases:
- List of the top 100 most influential films in the history of Ukrainian cinema was collected as a result of a wide survey conducted in 2019.
- List of all Ukrainian features produced by VUFKU (All-Ukrainian Photo- and Cinema Administration)from 1922 to 1930.
Final title on film from Man with a Movie Camera (1929, Dziga Vertov / VUFKU Kyiv Film Factory), Eye Filmmuseum collection, courtesy of Richard Bossons