Militantropos captures the human condition through the fractured realities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film pieces together everyday lives transformed by war – those who flee, those who lose everything, and those who stay to resist and fight – tracing both the instinct to survive and the need for closeness. Amid devastation and atrocity, the human is absorbed into war – and war, in turn, becomes part of the human.

Award:

Union of the Ukrainian Film Critics Prize in DOCU/UKRAINE Competition – Docudays UA International Documentary Human Rights Film Festival Kyiv 2025 (Ukraine)

Militantropos is nominated for the award Another Gaze.

Student jury about the film:

The film Militantropos (2025) captures one of the ongoing tragedies in modern human history. The essence and significance of this documentary don’t lie in talking heads and confessions, but in raw and honest shots of destroyed, dirty buildings and war-torn Ukrainian countryside. The mosaic-like micro stories of the inhabitants create a unified story of a nation. The film has an organic and unstaged feel to it, showing us that war has more than just one face. The directorial trio of Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi, and Yelizaveta Smith don’t need many words or grand pathos to show what they want to express – the context itself is enough.

After the screening, Andrea Najvirtová (director of the organization People in Need) will talk with the film's cinematographer Khrystyna Lizohub and producer Eugen Rachkovsky.

The film will be screened in cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute.