Ivan Nechui-Levytskyi

The Kaidash Family

Ukraine, the village of Semyhory. Two sons get married in the Kaidash family - Karp and Lavrin. But there is no peace in their home. Constant quarrels in the family between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law force the sons to share their father's property. Native people become enemies when it comes to the distribution of property.

Vasylyna

The film is based on I. Nechui-Levystkyi’s work The Bargewoman. From dawn till dusk from early childhood, Vasylyna has been working on Pan Jastrzebski’s fields. The young nobleman likes the beautiful girl, and she starts working in his home as a maid. Vasylyna’s happiness does not last long: the man marries a girl of his social class. Vasylyna’s fiancé Vasyl, who feels insulted because of her unfaithfulness, instigates guys to cut off the braid of the landlord’s mistress. Vasylyna runs away from the village and hides from people. Soon, she gives birth to a child who dies shortly. Female workers from a factory find barely alive Vasylyna and help her become a weaver. Vasylyna starts a new life.

Mykola Dzheria

Freedom-loving Mykola Dzheria goes away from the village because of poverty and villainage. He leaves his senior parents, his young wife Nemydora and escapes to the sugar-mill. His friend dies because of slave work. Mykola goes to the Dniester reed beds. Working with other escapees, Mykola falls in love with the daughter of the cooperative leader. The girl also likes the handsome guy. However, their fate is decided by the landlord’s servants; they set the reed beds on fire, shackle Mykola and take him to Verbivka. The film was released on 01 April 1927 in Kyiv and on 24 May 1928 in Moscow. The film is lost.

Dzheria

Ukrainian feature film “Dzheria” – psychological drama, a new take on the Ukrainian literature based on the novel by a master of classical prose – Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky “Mykola Dzheria” (1876). A human quest for freedom set in the XIX century picturesque Ukraine. Young serf Mykola Dzheria is forced along with a few others to escape his village near Kyiv, leaving his beloved wife behind and undertaking a long journey with his friends south, towards the Black Sea while being chased after and fighting to survive.