Ukrainian film about civilian evacuation after Russian invasion wins awards at 4 European film festivals
Polish director Maciek Hamela's documentary Skąd dokąd (From Where to Where) about the evacuation of Ukrainians at the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion has won awards at film festivals in Switzerland, France and Germany over the past week.
Hamela's film won the Best Documentary nomination at the Zurich Film Festival, which is the second largest festival in the German-speaking world.
Skąd dokąd also received the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Political Film Award at the FilmFest Hamburg. The Ebert Foundation awards films with a socially important context.
"Films where men wage war dominate in the anti-war genre. And this film is truly anti-war, and the survivors here tell the story. It is an antidote to war addiction, and it makes visible those whose lives were turned upside down by the beginning of the war in Ukraine. This great film deserves a large audience," the jury said, noting Hamela's work.
Producer Kseniia Marchenko with the award in Zurich.
Photo: In the Rearview / Facebook
In addition, the film won an award at the French film festival War on Screen International Film Festival, namely the International Jury Grand Prize.
At another film festival in France, Festival 2 Cinema de Valenciennese, it received three awards at once: the Grand Prix, the Critics' Award and the Students' Award. They were given to Larysa Sosnovtseva, one of the film actresses and the refugees from Mariupol, who currently live in France.
About Skąd dokąd
The film, directed by Maciek Hamela, shows the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainians are forced to abandon everything they have and flee from the war. They get into a car to Hamela with the most valuable thing they decided to take from home, while his vehicle becomes for salvation, a waiting room, a trust zone, etc. After starting to film his passengers, the director assembled a collective image of Ukrainians who had a single goal: to find a safe place in the maelstrom of war.
The film’s world premiere took place at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023.
Skąd dokąd team brought a carpet from the village of Lukashivka (Chernihiv Oblast) to Cannes.
The film has received a number of awards since then, including the Best Polish Film and the Arthouse Cinema Award at the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Polish Film Festival; The Jury Grand Prize at the UK film festival Sheffield DocFest; Special Distinction at the Icelandic film festival IceDocs; Best Documentary at the Odesa International Film Festival; and The North American premiere of the film at the Canadian film festival TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival)
The film was also included in the selection list of the European Film Awards, which are presented annually by the European Film Academy.
Skąd dokąd is a nominee for the Sixth National Film Critics Award Kinokolo in the Best Documentary Film category.
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