Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine

The three Cheremiskyi brothers live in the mountains where they don't dream of owning an iPhone7, because to earn half of its price, they have to go to bed at midnight and get up at 3 a.m. all summer long, milk a hundred sheep, make cheese, wash cauldrons... This is the usual daily routine of 9-year-old Sashko Cheremiskyi, who earned as much as 3,000 hryvnias from his "old stall" this summer. But with this money he did not buy a bike or a tablet, but paid shepherds to graze his four sheep, bought a backpack and notebooks for September 1, and donated the rest... to repair the school. His brother Yurko, at 10 years old, bakes bread, cooks borscht and braids his younger sister's hair. The eldest, 12-year-old Vasya, dreams of becoming a reporter or cameraman, but first he wants to see the big city. The three boys don't go to school because they have to chop wood for the winter. Otherwise, their large family will freeze to death...

Romain Verley has known Michel Catalano since 2015. After January 9, he was the first journalist to interview him and film his devastated printing shop. For nearly 10 years, he has been a regular witness to its reconstruction. Yes, he survived the Kouachi brothers that day. Today, he is ready to tell his story. To deliver his truth since the attacks. This film follows his journey of resilience and sharing, punctuated by images and sounds from the 2015 attacks. It evokes a daily life that has been rebuilt around this event and looks back on the extreme violence of that day and the widespread violence of all those that followed.

Kherson, Ukraine's embattled city, has endured invasion, occupation, and liberation. On February 24, 2022, Russian tanks entered Kherson, leading to brutal occupation marked by violence. Despite being outnumbered, local defense forces resisted, and citizens protested under the slogan "Kherson is Ukraine!" An underground resistance formed, led by brave individuals like journalist Valentyna and others who risked arrest and torture to support the cause. After nine months, Ukrainian forces liberated Kherson, but Russian destruction left the city in chaos. Shelling and drone attacks became relentless, and in June 2023, a dam explosion flooded the city, causing further devastation. Despite these challenges, Kherson's spirit remained unbroken, with citizens embracing arts and resilience. By August 2024, drone attacks specifically targeted civilians, yet the city resisted, determined to rebuild and reclaim its identity, refusing to succumb to ruin.

In 2022, Mantas Kvedaravičius went back to Ukraine, Mariupol, at the heart of the war, to be with the people he had met and filmed in 2015. Following his death, his producers and collaborators have put all their strength into continuing transmitting his work, his vision and his films. Also a PhD in anthropology, Mantas Kvedaravičius wished to testify as a filmmaker as far as possible from the agitation of the media and the politicians. With huge force and sensitivity, Mariupolis 2 depicts life as it continues amidst the bombing and reveals images that convey both tragedy and hope.

Courage, love and loss. Young people risk their lives with self-funded missions to rescue families in Ukraine’s frontline towns. Told through their own words and unique first-person footage.

Askania-Nova is the largest steppe wildlife sanctuary in Europe. It is located in south part of Ukraine, not far from Crimea peninsula. In order to underline this unique beauty we created a documentary musical film about life of animals and people in wildlife sanctuary of Askania-Nova. The movie reveals stories of a three protagonists, whose destinies were entangled because of wildlife sanctuary.

In his own way, Anatoli Ljutuk is a legend of Tallinn's Old Town - a man from Western Ukraine who has built a unique world on Laboratory Street, the main core of which is the Ukrainian Cultural Center and Church. There, he engages in calligraphy, makes paper in a medieval way, carves traditional wooden toys in his workshop and makes books in the spirit of old monasteries. According to the oath taken a quarter of a century ago, he has promised to create something good every day. His daily commitment is challenged by the war that broke out in Ukraine, which Anatoly cannot passively ignore.

Milena, a young woman from Ukraine, who along with her mother and grandmother (and cat), desperately struggle to escape their war- torn home while an army of supporters on the opposite side of the world fight to keep them safe. Milena survived the destruction of Mariupol, cowering for a month in the basement of a bombed-out building, watching her home and history burn. She managed to contact Ken Pontac, long-time Facebook friend and father figure. Their conversations bolstered Milena's spirits while Ken listened with growing apprehension.

Against the backdrop of historical events, from the time of Kyivan Rus' until the arrival of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Ukraine, the film deals with the history of the construction, flourishing, destruction and revival of the Mykhailivskyi Golden-Domed Monastery over 900 years, as well as the difficult history of the struggle for independence of Ukraine. the church that continues to this day.

It’s the last dictatorship of Europe, caught in a Soviet time-warp, where the secret police is still called the KGB and the president rules by fear. Disappearances, political assassinations, waves of repression and mass arrests are all regular occurances. But while half of Belarus moves closer to Russia, the other half is trying to resist…

This film is an uncompromising portrait of a woman who no-one could have imagined in a position of power a few years ago . A look at the woman and, through her, at the party that continuously raises concerns and stirs up the media.

Viktor, who was born deaf, worships the figure of the samurai warrior. When bombs start falling on his countryside home in Kharkiv, his quasi-romantic obsession with war is put to the test.

The film tells the story of the events in Western Ukraine before the outbreak of World War II, the rise of Soviet rule, changes in borders, and the disappearance of entire states from the world map. The film is based on archival documents, materials and memoirs of witnesses, representatives of the Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish peoples of pre-war Galicia.

A year ago, on 29 December 2019, prisoners were exchanged with the self-proclaimed ‘LPR’ and ‘DPR’. Among the Ukrainians who returned home were journalist Stanislav Aseyev, tanker Bohdan Pantiushenko, and human rights activist Andriy Yarovoi. Four months earlier, on 7 September, Crimeans Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko were released from Russian colonies. We spoke to the former prisoners about their first year of freedom.

Nazi troops massacre 30,000 Jews over a three-day period in September 1941. Babyn Yar ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine.