A short poetic parable about the beginning of human life and humanity’s place in the world.

One family stands out from the mass of human crowd on a sunlit beach. A little girl plays on the seashore, the sea unfolding before her as a free poetic force of life. Her parents are nearby, their presence as natural and essential as the water and sand. Meanwhile, somewhere close, everyday life rages on.

This short sketch by Leonid Osyka marks a search for a new visual language and figurative poetics, as well as a bold departure from conventional narrative and the canon of socialist realism. Osyka is among the first filmmakers in post-war Ukrainian cinema to explore the theme of corporeality — the naked male and female body. Diverse textures and physical touch become key expressive elements; captured through the lens of Mykhailo Bielikov’s camera, they create a distinct sensual layer in the film’s perception.

This film marks the director’s first collaboration with composer Volodymyr Huba, who scored all of Osyka’s subsequent films and became one of the leading figures of the Kyiv musical avant-garde.

Entering the Sea is Leonid Osyka’s graduation film at VGIK (All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography), which he shot at the Dovzhenko Film Studio. However, the diploma was not approved. The director was accused of “existentialism,” “decadence,” and “borrowings from the ‘New Wave.’” Yet, according to the film’s composer Volodymyr Huba, Sergei Paradjanov was so impressed by the film that he jokingly suggested renaming the Dovzhenko Film Studio in Osyka’s honor.

In 2021, the film was ranked 53rd among the best films in the history of Ukrainian cinema.