
Acting
Mykola Yakovchenko
Born 1900-05-03 · Pryluky, USSR
Mykola Fedorovych Yakovchenko (April 20 (May 3), 1900, Pryluky — September 11, 1974, Kyiv) was an outstanding Soviet Ukrainian theater and film actor who played character roles. He was named a People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1970. He was born in Pryluky (now Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, then Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire) into the family of an assistant manager of the Astrakhan fishing industry. His mother had four other children besides him. His family had its origins in the Don Cossacks — the family moved to the Poltava province from Rostov-on-Don and had a patriarchal structure, where a penchant for art was not particularly encouraged. In 1912, he enrolled in the Second Prilutsk Higher Primary School named after Kislov. In 1916, he enrolled in the city Jewish gymnasium, where he became interested in amateur art, performing his first roles in the gymnasium theater. At the same time, he thoroughly studied the Greek language. During the revolutionary events, he went to the front. His grandson, Mykola Bohonko-Yakovchenko, said, "It is not known for certain on whose side he fought — for the Reds or the Whites. According to documents, he spent the entire war on a Red Army medical train. However, over time, he became enthusiastic about talking about General Shkuro's cavalry; he once obtained two well-hidden St. George's Crosses." In 1918, he made his debut on the amateur stage in Pryluky. From the amateur group, he moved to the troupe of Pylyp Khmara's theater, which was Russian at the time, and from 1919 — Ukrainian, then Soviet. At this time, he played in plays by Leonid Andreyev — Tyukha in Savva and Second Lieutenant Grigory Mironov in Days of Our Lives. From 1920 to 1927, he worked in theaters in Lubny, Pryluky, Simferopol, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, and Kharkiv. From 1927, he was an actor at the Frank Ukrainian Academic Theater in Kyiv (with breaks).
Acting credits
5.1This film is based on the classic novel of the same name by writer Ivan Franko, one of the most famous figures of Ukrainian literature. It is set during the 1200s and the invasion of the medieval Ukrainian-Russian state of Rus' by Chengis Khan's Golden Horde. Due to its having been produced during the Soviet era, the story's aspect of class-conflict between the "heroic" peasantry and the "decadent" noble particularly emphasized here.
Zakhar Berkut
1972
6.9A seminary student on monastery holiday kills an old witch in a remote village. The hag then transforms into a beautiful young woman whose dying wish is for him to watch over her wake for three nights. With terrors occurring and his faith waning, he reads prayers on the overnight watch and tries to survive the supernatural encounters.
Viy
1967
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Димка-велогонщик
1969
6.7About the great Czech satirist Jaroslav Hašek, who was captured by the Russians during the First World War. Not wanting to fight for the interests of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Hašek enters the Red Army and, as a commissar of the international brigade, goes the military way from Samara to Irkutsk.
A Great Road Ahead
1963
5.5Poetic treatment of the early life of Ukrainian poet and painter Taras Shevchenko. A biopic made on the occasion of his 150th anniversary. It dwells on the first part of the Shevchenko's life leading up to the writing of his rebellious poem "A Dream" (A comedy).
A Dream
1964
8.0XIX century. The village of Dymka in Bukovina. The wealthy peasant Ivonic and his wife Maria have two sons - Mykhailo and Sava. Mykhailo has fallen in love with Anna, and is afraid to confess to his parents because it is not known how they will react. Sava fell in love with Rahira, who has a bad reputation in the village. She incites Sava's hatred towards his older brother Mykhailo, because he should get a better land.
Earth
1954
NRStudents Galya and Sergey want to marry. In the civil registry, they are given a month's time, as stipulated by law. The young people quarrel, reconcile and quarrel again. On the last day of the probation period, the couple come to the registry office to pick up their applications, and leave it in the company of satisfied friends and indignant parents, having become husband and wife.
The Month of May
1965
NRThe taxi driver Lushka falls in love and, for the sake of that love, is ready to change her life just to be close to the man she loves. It turns out that her chosen one is a criminal. Yet she does not rush to lose hope. Now she understands that, for the sake of love, she must change another person – and she's going for it.
Lushka
1964
7.7The story of the growing up of the orphan Gali between the Revolution and the Great Patriotic War. Large-scale historical drama with Nina Ivanova.
The Kyiv Resident
1958
NRBased on the play The Gypsy Azza by Mykhailo Starytsky. The gypsy Vasyl falls in love with the Ukrainian beauty Halia. He forgets his nomadic life, his mother, and the gypsy Azza, and decides to stay in the village for Halia’s sake. Halia, against her father’s wishes, marries Vasyl. But time will pass, and Vasyl will begin to long for the camp.
Malevolent Fate
1969
7.7Svyryd Petrovych Holokhvosty has his own barbershop in town and a reputation of a dandy. Once, after losing everything he had at cards, he decides to remedy his financial situation by a profitable marriage. A rich but ugly girl named Pronia Sirko falls for the illustrious suitor’s courtship.
Chasing Two Hares
1961
7.3Lyudmila doesn't have any luck in finding the perfect job. She tried to be an air hostess, newscaster, model, ice skater, but fate had something else in store for her - a petrol station, where her incredible positivity and fiery personality charm everyone around her.
Gas Station Queen
1963
NRComedy film-performance of the Franko Theater based on the play by Oleksa Kolomiyets. The place of action is an ordinary village in the period of Soviet power, where all leading positions are occupied exclusively by men. But after one stormy night with songs and a lot of moonshine, the men wake up to find that now women are in charge of everything and they behave just like men.
Pharaohs
1964
NRThe film depicts the challenging daily life of rural workers.
Here We Live
1973
7.3No synopsis available yet.
Carrot Head
1961
5.0A gem from Paradjanov's early oeuvre is a musical agitation film or a romantic comedy, made by the young director under the guidance of Alexander Dovzhenko and set in the immense fields of the collectivised Ukraine. The social realism is replaced by colourful, convivial and dancing shots of the “Pabieda” (Victory) kolkhoz, where peasant women sing in the fields, and boys march with banners glorifying revolution. Against this backdrop, intense romantic feelings have reached a climactic stage; tailor Sidor Sidorovich, farmer Jushka and soldier Danila Petrovich all dote on the fair-haired Odarka. It is Jushka and Danila who engage in overt hostility; the initial “gentlemen’s” contest turns into an outright confrontation, resulting in miserable Jushka being increasingly more desperate and scorned by the villagers.
The First Lad
1959
7.2The story that happened on the farm near Dikanka on the night before Christmas, when the village blacksmith Vakula, having saddled the Devil, brought to his beloved Oksana, the daughter of a rich Cossack Chub, queen's "сherevichki"(the little women shoes) from the capital — St. Petersburg.
Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
1961
NRTrofim Bessarab has been working as a house painter for all his life. He is a pensioner now and it seems that he can let himself have a rest. But idleness is not for Trofim. His nature is to be a working man and he looks for the way to apply his irrepressible energy, he possesses despite his age.
The Grandfather of the Left Winger
1973
10.0Engineer Stepan Mitin, having arrived in Kiev on business, accidentally gets to the performance "Ukrainian Ballet on Ice" and falls in love with the soloist Viktoriya Chaika. Delighted with the prima, Stepan doesn't notice that the draftsman Varya is working with him on the refrigerator project — the same girl to whom in the evenings he unsuccessfully tries to convey a bouquet of flowers with a note. The business trip ends — and Stepan, collecting in Primorsk, invites Varya to his plant. They agree to meet at the airport, but on the way, the ballet administrator intercepts the girl. Stepan flies away alone. One day, the Ukrainian Ballet on Ice comes to Primorsk. Stepan Mitin, the best refrigeration specialist, is asked to help create artificial ice. Stepan gladly accepts the offer and soon meets Viktoriya Chaika...
Star of the Ballet
1965
6.9Maxim Perepelitsa is a cheerful, mischievous and resourceful young man from a Ukrainian village. He loves to make up stories and invent practical jokes. When he is drafted into the Russian Army, he doesn't stop his antics.
Maksim Perepelitsa
1955
6.8Based on a play by Ivan Franko. Anna married Mykola, but does not love him. She likes young Michael. Against the background of the picturesque Carpathian mountains in the nineteenth century unfolds the eternal drama of love and jealousy.
Stolen Happiness
1952
7.0A musical comedy about students and graduates of a theater school - about young people who have just graduated from school and decided to go “to the artists” ... Sergey decides to live his whole life and live his life in a big city. He is going to Kiev! On the way, he meets on the roof of the train Lesik, who actually turns out to be a charming girl named Natasha ...
Years of Young
1958
6.0About cheerful adventures of popular perfoming artists Shtepsel and Tarapunka, with elements of various acts interludes ,and the mechanic car invented by them.
Adventures of Tarapunka and Shtepsel
1971
NRThe main film character, an ordinary peasant Martyn Borylya, decided to get a noble order. Having chosen a little and primitive aim, in the chase of the artificial values, he loses everything.
Martyn Borulya
1953