From November 2025 to February 2026, the 5th Open Competition of Amateur Documentary Films "Ukraine Between the World Wars (1917-1939): A Look into the Past" took place. The main goal of the event was to educate young people about the national liberation struggle and the Ukrainian people's fight for independence in the interwar period.
The competition was organized by the Donetsk Regional Center for Tourism and Local History for Schoolchildren, which consistently supports the development of research and creative activity among young people in the field of history and local history.
The competition brought together 152 talented authors aged 14 to 25. Students from nine regions of Ukraine presented their research projects: Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, and Sumy.
More than 17 documentary films were presented in four categories, distinguished by their in-depth analysis of sources, thoughtful direction, and emotional persuasiveness.
Representatives from the Lyman region of Donetsk Oblast took an active part in the competition, in particular the creative group from Lyman Lyceum No. 4 with their work "The Shot Renaissance" and Alexander Romensky, a student at Lyman Lyceum No. 2, with a video project about Mykyta Shapoval.
Research on the role of Mykhailo Hrushevsky in state building was conducted by Karina Gorokhova from the Zoryansky educational institution of the Illinivska community and the Steppe Eagles team from the Center for Tourism and Local History in Dobropillia.
The presented works demonstrated the thoroughness of the young local historians' approach and their ability to combine historical analysis with modern multimedia technologies. Through documentary films, young people not only study the past but also form their own civic position, realizing the continuity of the struggle for Ukraine's independence.
We thank all participants for their active interest in the history of our country and their responsible attitude towards preserving national memory, and we wish them new creative and research achievements, bold ideas, and further victories.