About this Event
Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin (UFFB) 2026 presents:
Donbas on Screen: Flower on the Stone
Ukrainian SSR | 75 min.
Original title: Квітка на камені
Directed by: Serhiy Parajanov, Anatoliy Slisarenko
In a young town under construction in the middle of the Donets steppe, Hryhoriy Hryva, a miner with a complex character, falls in love with Lyuda, an idealistic activist who does not reciprocate his feelings. A parallel plotline follows another couple whose love is tested by a local religious sect.
Originally titled No One Ever Loved Like This (with an alternative script title, Dawn in the Steppe), the film was initially helmed by director Anatoliy Slisarenko and starred the young Ukrainian film star Inna Burduchenko. Following her tragic death during production, Slisarenko was removed from the project. Serhiy Parajanov was brought in to save the production, developing a new script titled Faith. Hope. Love. He retained only 20% of the footage shot by his predecessor, shifted the story's focus, and rescued the project. The completed work, released under the title Flower on the Stone, credited only Parajanov.
During the Perestroika era, the film was often dismissed as the director's "lowest point." Over time, however, critical assessment of Parajanov's creative setback has been reevaluated. In her article "Cinematic Donbas of the 'Thaw' Era: Parajanov's 'Black' Film, or Milk for a Hero," cultural analyst and film theorist Olha Bryukhovetska argues that the movie is more complex than it might appear at first glance:
"...it was labeled 'drab,' 'pointless,' and 'unconvincing,' after which it sank into oblivion as just another primitive piece of topical anti-religious propaganda from the Khrushchev era. However, this Parajanov 'non-masterpiece' is compelling not only from the standpoint of the director's artistic evolution—having been made immediately before his first true masterpiece, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964)—but also as an artifact of its time and its internal contradictions, effectively weaving together these two threads: the authorial and the historical."
The film was scanned by the Dovzhenko Centre Film Lab in 2023.
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Part of
The screening will feature an introductory talk and discussion led by film expert Anna Onufriienko and external moderator, highlighting the historical context, film language, and contemporary significance of the works.
Anna Onufriienko is a cultural studies researcher, film historian, and curator specializing in Soviet cinema, visual propaganda, and cinematic representations of the Donbas region. From 2014 to 2022, she served as a film critic and programmer at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre, co-curating major retrospective projects like VUFKU. Lost & Found. Her work on Soviet and industrial media history includes co-editing the book Cinematographic Revision of Donbas (2015, 2018), co-editing the DVD set Chornobyl [in]Visible (2017), and co-directing the montage film project Atomopolis. Assembling Utopia (2016).
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More info: https://uffberlin.de/uffb2026/donbas-on-screen-flower-on-the-stone/
All descriptions and materials presented above are provided by the , a partner of these screenings.
WHERE AND WHEN?
17.10.2026, 20:30
Kino & Bar in der Königstadt
10405 Berlin
Event venue & nearby stays
Kino & Bar in der Königstadt, Straßburger Straße 55, Berlin, Germany
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