From 24 to 27 September, the Lviv Municipal Library will run the project “Cinema for Everyone”, designed to make film screenings and cultural events more accessible for people with disabilities. The initiative will include screenings of 10 films with audio description and expanded subtitles, an exhibition of adapted film posters, poetry readings and a presentation of an art book printed in Braille. The overarching theme of the project is “The Responsibility to Be”.
The programme brings together cinema, visual art and poetry. Visitors will be offered:
- screenings of 10 films with audio description and expanded subtitles;
- an exhibition of 15 adapted film posters with audio description and Braille;
- performative poetry readings on 27 September at 17:00 in the Rotunda in Ivan Franko Park;
- a presentation of the poetry art book “Annie Chooses to Breathe”, produced in Braille.
The project opens on 24 September at the Jam Factory space at 124 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street. At 18:00 the opening film will be shown there — “Babylon XX” (1979, dir. Ivan Mykolaichuk, 100 minutes). The film tells the story of the Podillia village of Babylon in the 1920s, where long-standing patriarchal traditions gradually come into conflict with the new Soviet reality.
On 25 September, screenings will continue at the Centre for Urban Mobility at 24 Stepana Bandery Street. At 16:00 there will be a programme of films from the collection of the Centre for Urban History and other studios: “First Feeling” (1960s, Amateur Film Studio of the Kyiv Palace of Culture of the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf, 25 minutes), about a girl who loses her hearing and finds support in the deaf community; and “Psychological Unwinding Room” (1980s, People’s Film Studio “Kamenyar”, 8 minutes), about a recreational space at a Brody enterprise of the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf.
At 17:30 the same day there will be a screening of the film “Hello, I’m on the Hill” (2023, dir. Liza Pyrozhkova, 13 minutes), about residents of de-occupied Izium who climb Mount Kremianets to find a mobile signal and talk to their loved ones. Next in the programme is the film “Kharkiv: How the Puppet Theatre Held Out” (2026, dir. Tetiana Symon, “War Archive” project, 18 minutes, from the collection of the Docudays UA Network of Film Clubs), about the work of the Kharkiv Puppet Theatre in a frontline city.
At 19:00 there will be a screening of the feature film “To Stay (Not) to Stay” (2023, dir. Serhii Zeinalov, 104 minutes), about the Mykola Kulish Kherson Theatre during the war. The film documents how part of the company remains in de-occupied but daily shelled Kherson, while another part works in Kyiv, preparing a documentary performance, and explores people’s choices between personal safety and preserving their home.
On 26 September, film screenings will continue at the Centre for Urban Mobility. At 16:00 they will show the documentary “Stars on Earth” (2021, dir. Snizhana Husarevych, 56 minutes), about the cross-sectoral project of the same name implemented by the film company “Dobranichfilm” in cooperation with the Dzherelo Educational and Rehabilitation Centre. The film focuses on a 15-day inclusive film art workshop for children with special educational needs, involving peers without disabilities.
At 18:00 that day there will be a screening of the film “Kira’s Dream” (2026, dir. Denys Kolesnikov, 135 minutes). The protagonist Kira is preparing to emigrate from Ukraine, and her journey becomes a search for home through her relationship with her younger sister, music and songs, as a full-scale war breaks out in the country.
The final day of the project, 27 September, will also take place at the Centre for Urban Mobility at 24 Stepana Bandery Street. At 14:00 two films are scheduled for screening: “Life Begins” (2025, dir. Oleksii Taranenko, 28 minutes) — an adaptation of Pavlo Belianskyi’s novel “To Fight, Not to Retreat” about a war veteran who struggles to adapt to civilian life; and “Natural Balance” (2026, dir. Oleksandr Myroniuk, 26 minutes), about a young documentary filmmaker and an elderly man whose story takes an unexpected turn after the tragic death of a beloved pet.
At 16:00 they will show the film “Far Is a Place, Good Is a Place” (2020, dir. Hanna Yaroshevych, 71 minutes, from the collection of the Docudays UA Network of Film Clubs). The film tells the story of a young German, Michel, who moved to the Carpathians to save water buffalo from extinction and who balances between life in the mountains and his obligations in Germany.
The municipal programme “The Responsibility to Be” emerged as Lviv was preparing to take part in the European Capital of Culture competition. Over two years, more than a thousand Ukrainian and international cultural figures and experts worked together on a concept intended to reflect the city’s contemporary identity. Although Lviv did not win the title, the concept developed in the process formed the basis of a broad municipal programme that considers culture as a space of responsibility in the context of war and global challenges.
As part of this programme, the competition “The Responsibility to Be / Responsibility to Be” was created. One of the winning projects was the Lviv Municipal Library’s initiative “Cinema for Everyone”. The project is being implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.