Mavka. The True Myth: Ukrainian Fantasy Gets Its UK Premiere in London

Ukrainian fantasy film Mavka. The True Myth is coming to London for its UK premiere on 29 April at Cineworld at The O2, presented by TalentedU with a Q&A following the screening.

The film is a live-action fantasy from FILM.UA Group, the team behind the 2023 animated blockbuster Mavka. The Forest Song, which grossed over $21 million worldwide and collected 156 million hryvnias in Ukraine, making it the highest-grossing Ukrainian film of all time. This new film is a separate, darker story made for audiences aged 16 and above.

Set in modern Ukraine during Mermaid Week, the once-every-four-years event in Slavic folklore when mythical creatures emerge from the Dark Lake, the film follows Mavka, a forest nymph sent to lure a biology student named Lukian to his death. She falls in love with him instead. What happens next is the film.

Directed by Katia Tsaryk and written by Yaroslav Voytseshek, who also wrote the animated predecessor, the film draws on Ukrainian folklore with input from ethnologists. In genuine Ukrainian mythology mavkas are not gentle spirits. They are the souls of young women who drowned for love, and they are dangerous.

Shooting took place across real Ukrainian landscapes including Holosiivsky Park in Kyiv, Zhukov Island, the Pyrohiv open-air museum and the Korostyshiv canyon in Zhytomyr region. Seventeen of the twenty-nine shooting days were night shoots. Underwater scenes were filmed in a specially constructed pool in Kyiv. The film was made entirely during the full-scale Russian invasion.

Ukrainian critics were divided. Suspilne Kultura called it a calm and confident move in a necessary direction. Dzyga MDB praised lead actress Arina Bocharova and called it an aesthetically honest reading of a classic story. Others pointed to shallow characterisation and intrusive product placement. Almost all praised the atmosphere and the location photography. The film has since screened in Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, the US, Canada, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The London screening on 29 April is its UK premiere.

The event is organised by TalentedU, a London-based non-profit cultural institution founded by Ukrainian media professionals after the 2022 invasion. Founded by TV director Ksenia Bugrimova and covered by Screen Daily, TalentedU began as a database of over 300 Ukrainian film and media professionals displaced to the UK. It has since expanded into a cultural programme with film screenings, industry workshops and events including a summit at the Czech Embassy in London featuring Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's Ambassador to the UK.

UK Premiere: Mavka. The True Myth29 April 2026Cineworld at The O2, LondonFollowed by a Q&A

Tickets at eventbrite.co.uk