The film about Yaremchuk became the highest-grossing documentary in the history of Ukraine
10 January 2025 00:34
The documentary Yaremchuk: The Incomparable World of Beauty” by Artem Hryhorian became the highest-grossing Ukrainian documentary. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Forbes.
Artem Hryhorian’s biographical drama Yaremchuk: The Incomparable World of Beauty, which tells the story of the first Ukrainian pop star Nazariy Yaremchuk, grossed UAH 15.9 million at the box office in Ukrainian cinemas. This made the film the highest-grossing Ukrainian documentary.
The film tells the story of the legendary singer’s life through his personal diaries and memories of his family. The film recalls his victory at the Song-71 contest, Chervona Ruta, performances in Chernobyl, and other moments of his life.
Nazariy Yaremchuk’s family provided the artist’s personal archives, diaries and letters, which became the basis of the film. Recordings of concerts and interviews were searched in state archives. The film contains lines from the singer’s personal diary. Those who worked with him during his lifetime and the members of the Smerichka singing group also share their memories of the first Ukrainian pop star.
It is interesting to note that artificial intelligence was also involved in the creation of the film: it was used to recreate the sound as close as possible to the artist’s real voice.
The film was produced by the singer’s daughter Maria Yaremchuk and Maksym Serdyuk, and directed by Artem Hryhorian.
The second place was taken by Mstislav Chernov’s film 20 Days in Mariupol, which won an Oscar for best documentary. This work grossed 8.7 million hryvnias at the box office.
Previously, the highest-grossing Ukrainian documentary was Volodymyr Mula’s Yuki, about Ukrainian NHL hockey champions, which earned over 500,000 hryvnias in a year of distribution. This record was surpassed by Chernov’s film in just four days.
The top five most successful Ukrainian docs include:
- “We Were Recruits” by Lubomyr Levytskyi, about the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade (5.2 million hryvnias);
- “We, Our Pets and the War by Anton Ptushkin (UAH 4.6 million);
- “Lift Force” – a film about the army aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAH 2.1 million).
