Director’s approaches to representation of social problems in Ukrainian cinema of the independence era

The purpose of the research. The article studies director’s approaches to ways of representation of social problems as an expression of the author’s worldview. The main objective of the study is the work of directors with the author’s stylistic ideas in Ukraine cinema during the independence era. The methodology. The following scientific research methods are applied in this article: the exploratory method (for gathering information on the chosen topic), the deductive method (for isolating specific stylistic characteristics of films within the broader context of Ukrainian cinema in the independence period), comparative (for highlighting the individual director’s method), and method of generalization (for drawing conclusions). The scientific novelty of the study is the identification of the peculiarities of director’s toolkit, which authors use to expand the ways of representation of social problems in feature films of the independent Ukraine for the sake of self-identification of Ukrainian society. Conclusions. The analysis of the ways in which social problems are represented in Ukrainian feature films of the independence era has revealed that the main tool used by authors-directors to highlight social issues is a dramatic conflict, on the basis of which the protagonists’ story develops. Most of the time, it is a certain social problem that either becomes a contextual component or is used as a catalyst that motivates the protagonist’s actions. It is the dramatic conflict that motivates the choice of the author’s stylistic solution to the film, which is implemented with certain director’s tools. By highlighting social problems, Ukrainian authors develop a director’s toolkit for the sake of self-identification of Ukrainian society.