Based on the ballad written by Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko called “That Catherine’s hut is on the hill…”, Toloka is about a rescue of Catherine’s lover, whom she saves by posing him as her brother. This story, as a parable, flies throughout Ukraine’s history and reconstructs its dramatic and heroic episodes. Every challenge, including the Chernobyl accident, leaves Catherine without her home. But she is stubborn, as many generations of Ukrainians, in rebuilding her home. The story is not only about Catherine’s redemption, but also about Ukraine’s survival throughout the centuries that is reflected in a folk tradition which gives the film it’s title, Toloka.

Ukraine - 2020 - 1h 56m
Directed By: Mykhailo Illienko
Written By: Mykhailo Illienko, adapted from the poem by Taras Shevchenko
Starring: Ivanna Illienko, Dmytro Rybalevskyi, Dmytro Linartovych