Ukraine's Civilian Soldiers: The War Recorded on Smartphones

War Through the Eyes of Animals(uk)

Anthology film about the war in Ukraine, with animals as the main heroes. Recognized Ukrainian and foreign directors will tell insightful stories based on real events and show the trials that animals in Ukraine have to endure during war. Unlike us, animals don't have to take a test of humanity and they don't have political preferences, but they can clearly distinguish between good and evil.

Alone(ru)

Alone explores the existential pain of Ukraine through the eyes of an unlikely protagonist, one of the country’s most commercially successful pop stars. Andriy Khluvniuk, lead singer of hip-hop rock band Boombox, has millions of devoted young fans who adore him as a singer songwriter and sex symbol but know nothing of his personal turmoil caused by the political instability and military aggression in his homeland. Andriy is on a mission to raise awareness and motivate his fans to join him in taking a stand against the war in the east of Ukraine, and call for the release of Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker and political prisoner in Russia. As tensions between Ukraine and Russia become a footnote on the world’s media agenda, Andriy use his fame to refocus the global spotlight on the fragile independence Ukraine is fighting for. The film culminates in an incredible sequence of events that result in Oleg Sentsov's release in a prisoner swap. Andriy and Oleg can meet each other at last.

This Rain Will Never Stop(uk)

This Rain Will Never Stop takes the audience on a powerful, visually arresting journey through humanity’s endless cycle of war and peace. The film follows 20-year-old Andriy Suleyman as he tries to secure a sustainable future while navigating the human toll of armed conflict. From the Syrian civil war to strife in Ukraine, Andriy’s existence is framed by the seemingly eternal flow of life and death.

In the Rearview(pl)

A Polish vehicle traverses the roads of Ukraine. On board, people are evacuated following the Russian invasion. This van becomes a fragile and transitory refuge, a zone of confidences and confessions of exiles who have only one objective, to escape the war.

Superpower(en)

Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s documentary, shot just before and after Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022, and featuring several interviews with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Fugue(en)

A man hikes through late-winter woods. Russia invades Ukraine. It’s difficult to reconcile the scales of action described by those sentences, but this difficulty is what John Gianvito dwells on in his new video. It may simply be that this is a diary, movingly plain and provisional in construction, which recounts what its author did for a few months last year: he watched a war on the internet and went outside. Even if that’s true, such a description makes Gianvito’s images seem less strange than they are

The Invasion(fr)

10 years after the release of his epic film “Maidan”, Sergei Loznitsa resumes his Ukrainian chronicles by documenting the country’s struggle against the Russian invasion. Shot over a 2-year period, the film portrays the life of the civilian population all over Ukraine. THE INVASION presents a unique and ultimate statement of Ukrainian resilience in the face of barbaric invasion. In the second part of his Ukrainian diptych, Loznitsa paints a monumental canvas of a nation determined to defend its right to exist.

Ukrainian Independence(uk)

The film’s events take place on a single day: August 24, 2022, the day Ukraine celebrates the 31st anniversary of the renewal of independent statehood. The film combines places and people that best capture the country’s wartime spirit. The locations are: the relatively safe cities of Kyiv and Lviv; the cities under daily missile fire of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv; a trench at the frontlines near Donetsk; and the beaches of Odesa. The film presents a day in the life of a beach police patrol, a woman anti-tank missile operator, a water delivery driver, a mortar unit soldier, a rapid assault unit soldier, a 14-year-old pub janitor, an artist and a former member of parliament. Together, these people and places create an engaging mosaic of a day in the life of Ukraine.

Lethal Kittens 2(uk)

About the politically incorrect and patriotic adventures of four friends in a mysterious convent full of dangers. This time, to save Ukraine, the heroes plunge into the Russian sabotage Center. Kremlin agents are preparing a terrible crime against civilians. To win, your friends will have to get used to completely new, dangerous roles and come back from the dead several times.

The War Diary(fr)

The War Diary is a contemporary road movie that confronts history with the current reality of Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. An extraordinary document leads Hakob Melkonyan to undertake the journey of a lifetime:

Crimea. The Stolen Peninsula(uk)

Documentary film about war crime — annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.

One Aloe, One Ficus, One Avocado and Six Dracaenas(uk)

What to take, what to leave? How important are material possessions when you’re trying to save your life? Packages from Ukraine – filled with everything and nothing – wait patiently under a bridge to be found, while a voice stirs memories of frivolous and treasured personal effects, in an apparent heart-breaking farewell letter to Kyiv.

Crimea. As It Was(uk)

The film is a story about the officers, soldiers and seamen who did not betray their oath of loyalty to the people of Ukraine and their first hand accounts about Russia's invasion and annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. They continue to fulfill their military obligations on land, on sea and in the air today.

Justice Redefined: Ukraine's Frontline Journalists(en)

How do you cover a war in your own country? We spent two years with journalists from Ukraine's public broadcaster and saw how Russia's invasion transformed their profession and changed their beliefs. Broadcast on 5/4/2024

Who are we? Psychoanalysis of Ukrainians(uk)

King Lear: How We Looked for Love During the War(uk)

Due to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Ukrainians, fleeing the war, found refuge in Uzhhorod in western Ukraine. The local director decides to attract non-professional actors -displaced people - in bringing his dream into life - to stage the King Lear play. The theatrical performance helps them find themselves and their purpose in a new world where there is war, and the director finds an answer to the eternal question of what love is and why this world should not perish.

Good evening, we're from Barcelona(uk)

Film made by activists who lived for a month in the Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Checkpoint Zoo(en)

In the early stages of the Russian-Ukrainian War, almost 5,000 animals were trapped behind enemy lines in a wildlife park. The film relates the story of their dramatic rescue.

The Nightingale Sings(uk)

The movie explores the origin of the Ukrainian language and persecution of those who defended its authenticity. Using examples of other countries, creators of the film prove that a nation cannot exist without a language.

Smoke of the Fire(pt)

There are things that are indescribable and unspeakable when the disasters that affect our lives are beyond comprehension. Certain fundamental experiences seem irreducible to any form of expression. So how do we convey their intensity? How do we put them into words? Here, we’re talking about the war inflicted on the Ukrainians for over a year. Daryna Mamaisur is Ukrainian and currently lives in Portugal. O Fumo do Fogo, somewhere between a film diary and an essay, sketches with admirable reserve a path towards the possibility of communicating.