documentary film
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
directed and produced by Karim Amer. It follows the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, focusing on
Dmytro Kuleba
Dmytro Ivanovych Kuleba ( ; born 19 April 1981) is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was concurrently a member of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine.
The youngest foreign affai ...
and others fighting
disinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
As part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian state and state-controlled media have spread disinformation in their information war against Ukraine. Ukrainian media and politicians have also been accused of using propaganda and dec ...
.
It had its world premiere at the
2023 Toronto International Film Festival
The 48th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2023.Victoria Ahearn"TIFF reveals new programmers and other 2023 festival details" '' Playback'', April 20, 2023.
The most noted change from past years was tha ...
on September 9, 2023.
Plot
The film follows the Russian invasion of Ukraine, focusing on
Dmytro Kuleba
Dmytro Ivanovych Kuleba ( ; born 19 April 1981) is a Ukrainian politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was concurrently a member of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine.
The youngest foreign affai ...
Mykhailo Fedorov
Mykhailo Albertovych Fedorov (, ; born 21 January 1991) is a Ukrainian politician, and businessman. He served as a Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Digital Transformation from 2019 to March 2023.Iryna Vereshchuk also appear in the film, as they return to work, focus on restoring Ukraine's internet, and tour cities liberated from occupation, respectively.
Rustem Umerov
Rustem Enverovych Umerov (, ; born 19 April 1982) is a Ukrainian politician, businessman, investor, philanthropist and the current Ministry of Defence (Ukraine), Defence Minister of Ukraine. Member of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in- ...
, who cut their meeting short, in order to meet with
Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
, to deliver a message from
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...
.
Showing that Amer and his team of producers, Mike Lerner and Odessa Rae, were interested, they began filming. Instead of focusing on the front lines, Amer chose to focus on the individuals dealing with diplomacy and disinformation. Due to the ongoing conflict, the filmmakers thought the project would be a series, but due to the fading interest in political filmmaking from investors, this idea was scrapped. The film was
picture lock
Picture lock is a stage in editing a film or editing a television production. It is the stage prior to online editing when all changes to the film or television program cut have been done and approved. It is then sent to subsequent stages in the ...
ed prior to the firing of former defense minister
Oleksii Reznikov
Oleksii Yuriiovych Reznikov (, ; born 18 June 1966) is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician who served as the List of Ministers of Defense (Ukraine), Minister of Defence of Ukraine from 4 November 2021 until his dismissal on 5 September 2023. ...
.
Release
It had its world premiere at the
2023 Toronto International Film Festival
The 48th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2023.Victoria Ahearn"TIFF reveals new programmers and other 2023 festival details" '' Playback'', April 20, 2023.
The most noted change from past years was tha ...
DOC NYC
Doc NYC (stylized as DOC NYC) is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 specia ...