Watch the new film celebrating Ukraine’s Brutalist beauty

Kiev is a city of eclectic beauty, with modernist landmarks that dot the skyline. But as the capital grows and evolves, many of these Soviet-era gems are falling out of favour and into disrepair, with many already cleared away to make room for newer projects.

Among the buildings at risk of demolition are Ukraine’s Institute of Scientific, Technical and Economic Information and the State Scientific and Technical Library — otherwise known as Kiev’s iconic “UFO Building” — already on the verge of being swallowed up by the shopping mall next door.

Soviet Modernism, Brutalism, Post-Modernism: Buildings and Projects in Ukraine from 1960 – 1990 is a love letter to this endangered architectural heritage. Inspired by a book of the same name — due to be published in October 2018 — the film draws in the audience, using warm tones and a fixed lens to build a sense of intimacy with these unwieldy concrete objects.

The aim, says director Roman Blazhan, is to build bridges that will help the audience to notice the unseen modernist structures which dominate everyday life.