DocuDays UA

The first Human Rights Film Days festival took place in 2003. Screenings were held in Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Donetsk.

The documentaries were divided into thematic blocks devoted to specific human rights aspects: human rights, refugee and migrant issues, children's and women's rights, etc. Additionally, such programs as Special Look and Feature Film were held alongside the festival.

The second festival took place in 2005 in Kyiv and had the additional title Ukrainian Context. This time, the program featured non-fiction films. Screenings took place in cinemas, clubs, art centers, schools, and universities.

In 2006, at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA),[5] Ukrainian Context was accepted into the International Human Rights Film Network (HRFN).[6] Thus, Ukrainian Context was transformed into a platform where the best documentaries of Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries were presented. The festival lasted from May 21 to 26 in Kyiv. The first film to win the Grand Prix at the festival was The Children of Leningradsky by Polish directors Ganna Polak and Andrzej Celinski.

The fourth festival traditionally took place in the Kyiv Cinema House and lasted from March 29 to April 6, 2007. The program included more than 100 films from 20 countries. The festival also hosted retrospective screenings and workshops of leading documentary experts.

In 2008, the festival acquired a new title - DocuDays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. The screenings lasted from March 28 to April 4. Films from more than fifty countries were submitted to the festival, expanding the geography of the festival beyond the neighboring countries.

The Audience Choice Award, chosen by secret audience ballot, was awarded to Chernobyl: The Invisible Thief[7] by Bokel. For the first time, the opening ceremony is accompanied by a string orchestra, whereas the closing is held at the Ukrainian Center of Folk Culture - Ivan Honchar Museum.

The following are selected films screened virtually at the 17th DocuDays in 2020:[2]

• Don't Worry, the Doors Will Open (Oksana Karpovych)
• New Jerusalem (Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Himey)
• The Building (Tatjana Kononenko and Matilda Mester)
• The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (Iryna Tsilyk)
• War Note (Roman Liubyi)

Sound description (or audio description - AD) has been used in cinematography for over 40 years. AD is an additional soundtrack with a description of the film for the visually impaired audience.

In 2020, the soundtrack was created in collaboration with the NGO Fight for Rights within the project Affordable Cinema. After downloading the Earcatch application to the phone, the visually impaired get access to the film soundtrack.

Adapted subtitles are a new practice for DocuDays UA. These are subtitles with special marks, symbols, and additional text that reflect the audio part of the film (music, soundtracks). Such subtitles allow people with hearing impairments to immerse themselves more in the cinematic atmosphere and monitor film content. All films in the 2020 program, except DOCU/UKRAINE and DOCU/CHILDREN, had adapted subtitles in Ukrainian.

For the first time at the festival, all discussions within the human rights program RIGHTS NOW! had sign language translation.[8]