A private collection becomes an archive of a city that can no longer be reached. The Institute of Documentary Film presented the East Doc Award to Slavik’s Journey to Forever, a documentary project by Ukrainian director Vladyslav Vasylchenko, during the 2026 Sheffield DocFest Awards Ceremony.
The award was presented on Sunday, June 14, 2026, at Sheffield’s Crucible Playhouse, where this year’s Sheffield DocFest award winners were announced. Thirty-seven films competed across five prestigious competition categories at Sheffield DocFest, the UK’s leading documentary festival.
The awarded project, Slavik’s Journey to Forever, is directed by Vladyslav Vasylchenko and produced by Bohdanna Semen for Babylon’13.
The East Doc Award highlights outstanding documentary films from Central and Eastern Europe. The selected project is invited to a rough cut consultation with the Institute’s team, where it receives in-depth feedback to guide the film toward its festival journey.
In their statement, the jury said: “Moving in reverse through time, the film traces a search for purpose when the present is numbed by loss of home and meaning. For years the filmmaker has been following a man whose private collection becomes an archive of a Mariupol that no longer exists. This film searches how do we sustain collective memory for a place which has been destroyed and out of reach.”
By following this intimate relationship between a man, his collection, and a lost place, Slavik’s Journey to Forever reflects on the ways personal stories can carry traces of history, belonging, and survival.