On May 27, a preview screening was held in Kyiv of the film “Ten Years of War”. The film is a joint project of the All-Ukrainian Democratic Forum, the Espreso TV channel, with the support of the Media Development Fund of the US Embassy in Ukraine.
They became the heroes of the film Roman Ratushny, Svitlana Povalyaeva, Taira, Tetyana Chornovol. The fates of the heroes are intertwined with the key moments of the recent history of Ukraine, from the first actions of the Revolution of Dignity to the active phase of the full-scale Russian invasion. The film explores the phenomenon of Ukrainian resistance and how the heroes – public activist Roman Ratushny, his mother, poet and activist Svitlana Povalyaeva, politician and journalist Tetyana Chornovol, paramedic Yuliia Paievska (Taira) – reacted to the Maidan and the war and how their lives changed against the background of historical events.
The project team and partners who participated in its creation spoke about the idea and purpose of the film on the stage of the capital’s “Oscar” cinema.
“The idea to create the film “10 Years of War” was born almost a year ago, in the summer of 2023: the team and I were thinking about what project to make for the 10th anniversary of Espreso and decided to make a documentary. After all, the history of Espreso is closely connected with the history of the country: we were born in the first days of the Revolution of Dignity. And these last 10 years have become both the most difficult and the most important in the modern history of Ukraine.”, – said the general producer of Espreso Anastasia Ravva.
“This film is actually also about us. We don’t just record events, we experience them, we live in them… With this film, we are counting, first of all, on an international audience to show them what is really happening in Ukraine”, – commented Kateryna Yermolovich, director of the Espreso TV channel.
The founder of the Espreso TV channel emphasized that the main idea of the film is to make Ukraine and our war understandable to foreigners Mykola Kniazhytskyi. According to him, a wide distribution of the film abroad is planned for this.
He became the director and screenwriter of the film Oleg Garenchar, who lives and works in the USA. His work includes a number of historical documentaries for the BBC, feature films, awards at international film festivals. Garenchar has long been associated with Ukraine: he cooperated with the Espreso TV channel from the first days of its creation.
“The purpose of our film is to remind everyone in the world about what is happening in Ukraine, and to continue working until it ends, until Ukraine returns to its original borders and the people of Ukraine can live in peace”, – commented the director. And he expressed his desire to unite the international community in support of Ukraine with the help of the film.
The creation of the film was supported by the US Embassy in Ukraine. “The full-scale invasion is not just an attempt to destroy the infrastructure and the economy, it is trying to erase the rich history and unique culture of Ukraine, to destroy you as a people and a state. Together we pay tribute to the indomitable spirit of Ukraine. The US is proud to be able to support the production of this important film, because the story of Ukraine must be told.”, – commented the representative of the press office of the US Embassy in Ukraine Megan Tetrick.
And Gillian McCormack, director of “Internews” in Ukraine, noted that the world should not forget what is happening, and Ukraine should receive as much help as it needs to win.
“The sacrifices for 10 years were so great and so painful that it is very important that they are not in vain. The people shown in the film inspire and motivate not only to win, but also to make sure that after the victory the society will be worthy of the people who gave their lives for it.”, – she noted Gillian McCormack.
Journalist and publicist Vitaliy Portnykov emphasized that one of the biggest problems of our statelessness before 1991 was that Ukrainians looked at the world through Russia’s eyes, and the world looked at Ukraine through Russian eyes, so since then the main thing for us is to change this situation.
“Our task is to make our personal experiences become the personal experiences of people in the world that helps us fight. And the main thing is to tell people in the civilized world: our friends, our colleagues, our personal experiences and beliefs are worth protecting.” – summarized Vitaliy Portnykov.
The film “10 years of war” will be shown both in Ukraine and abroad. Later, it will also be available to watch on the Espreso TV channel.
The project was implemented by the public organization “All-Ukrainian Democratic Forum” in partnership with the Espreso TV channel with the support of the Media Development Fund of the US Embassy in Ukraine.
