Popular locations for filming in Kyiv

Sofiiska (Sophia) Square

Sofiiska (Sophia) Square is a wonderful landmark of Kyiv. It is considered extremely important due to its history and many legends and tales surrounding it throughout its existence. This is one of the oldest squares of the country’s capital. According to legends, a field near the city walls was once located on the site of this Ukrainian landmark. It was where Yaroslav the Wise defeated the Pechenegs in 1036. After that, the well-known St. Sophia Cathedral was built, and the surrounding square was named Sophiiska Square.

Sofiiska Square is a great location for filming. It was used as a ground in the patriotic film Kruty 1918. This is a film about student volunteers who defended Ukraine from the Soviets. It also appears in the German political thriller The Fourth State (2011, Dennis Gansel) where the main female character goes to Sophiiska Square to calm her soul. In Bulgakov’s novel The White Guard vividly screened by the director Sergey Snezhkin in February 2010, in the vicinity of Sofiiska Square, a horde of Red Army soldiers overran the city, fierce battles between the Reds and Whites raged throughout the day. 

Sofiiska Square is extremely beautifully presented in the documentaries Kyiv (1977) and Rus. In Search of Origins (Gorky Film Studio, 2014), Ancient Kyiv (documentary from the series Ukraine: Labyrinths of History (2014).

Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Complex

Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is the oldest and one of the main Orthodox sanctuaries, a unique monastic complex that has no analogues in the world. This is the first monastery in Kyivan Rus, the temples erected in the 11th century have survived almost in their original form.

This architectural monument of the 11th–18th centuries. always attracts cinematographers. Here is a short list of films from different years in which the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Complex played an important role: The Death of Stalin (2017) where the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was depicted as Moscow Kremlin. It was here, according to movie-goers, that the all-powerful Beria was arrested; Black Raven (2019) tells one of the most dramatic and most silenced stories of Ukrainian history, the fierce struggle of Ukrainian rebels against the occupying Communist authorities in the 1920s.

Even in the animated series The Simpsons (23rd season), the animators managed to show the Lavra, albeit on the opposite bank of the Dnieper, in the opening episode.

Mariinskyi Palace

Mariinskyi Palace is one of the most amazing palaces in Ukraine. The palace was built in 1755 by the then famous architect Rastrelli. The territory for building was personally chosen by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Royal families regularly stayed in the palace. And among them was Catherine the Great, who visited Kyiv in the last years of the 18th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Mariinskyi Palace was considered the residence of the highest rulers of the Kyiv Governorate. Today, the Mariinskyi Palace is the elegant ceremonial residence of the President of Ukraine.

The Mariinskyi Palace can be seen in all its glory in the film The Days of the Turbins (1976) based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The White Guard, where the palace served as the Hetman’s residence.

Khreshchatyk Street

Khreshchatyk is not only the shortest, but also, most likely, the least filmed central street among all European capitals. There are only about 25 full-length feature films in which it appears: Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera, Segel’s Farewell, Doves (1960), Yuri Lysenko’s We Are Two Men (1962), Viacheslav Kryshtofovych’s Before the Exam (1977), Kondratov and Yulii Slupskyi’s Responsible for Everything (1978), and others.

Films of recent years where Khreshchatyk gets into the shot are: Farewell (2009) (in this film, Kyiv plays the role of Moscow); the film starred Emir Kusturica and Willem Dafoe; The Fourth State (2011) (Kyiv appears again in the role of Moscow, and the capital’s landscapes sometimes very strangely are interrupted with the showing the Kremlin and the Red Square; Möbius (2013), and others.

Andriivskyi Descent

Andriivskyi Descent, the most popular street in Kyiv, also became a filming location. Chasing Two Hares is an iconic film for the Ukrainian capital, and a monument to its characters was erected on Andriivskyi Descent. It is not surprising, because it was in St. Andrew’s Church where the most iconic event of the film took place: the wedding of Pronia and Svyryd Petrovych Holokhvastov, which never took place. However, not only St. Andrew’s Church and Andriivskyi Descent appear in the film. One can see other places of Podil in the film.

Andriivskyi Descent was also shown in Yevgeny Tashkov’s film The Adjutant of His Excellency. There, you will definitely recognise Mykhailivska, Ivana Franka, Velika Zhytomyrska Streets and Tarasa Shevchenka Bystreet, as well as the Chocolate House and the Castle of Richard the Lionheart on Andriivskyi Descent. 

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square)

Maidan Nezalezhnosti is Kyiv’s central Square, its heart. In August 1991, the square received its modern name in honour of Ukraine’s declaration of its independence. It is one of the most attractive locations for cinematographers.

In Brad Bird’s sci-fi film Tomorrowland (2015), there is footage of military actions that took place in the Independence Square. Another feature film Once Upon a Time in Ukraine (2014) shot by director Ihor Parfionov at the Stupeni Film Studio also tells its story about the Square. Maidan even made it to the first episode of the 23rd season of the popular animated sitcom The Simpsons, where you can see its painted panorama.

Just a short time ago, it was the site of the bloody events of the Revolution of Dignity told in a number of the documentaries recently made, and particularly, in a series of documentaries The Winter That Changed Us. The premiere took place in April 2014 and was dedicated to the fortieth death-day of those killed in the confrontation in Instytutska Street. The series includes seven films: The Heavenly Hundred, The First Death, Hrushevskyi Cocktails, Mezhyhiria: Pop’s Hut, Self-Defence, Fire in the Trade Unions Building, Automaidan; All Things Ablaze is one of the most dynamic films dedicated to the events in Kyiv in the winter of 2013–2014; Winter on Fire/Prayer for Ukraine is the largest and most titled film dedicated to the Euromaidan. It collected a number of awards, was shown as part of the official programme of the Venice Film Festival, and was also nominated for an Oscar. Director Yevhen Afiniivskyi, together with 28 cameramen, filmed the events in the centre of the capital with the support of the streaming platform Netflix; Female Faces of the Revolution, a documentary by Natalya Piatyhina telling the story about Ukrainian women during the Revolution of Dignity; Maidan Massacre is one of the few foreign films about the Maidan made by the American John Beck Hoffman who directed films for NASA and National Geographic.