Trailer of new war documentary by Ukrainian director Oleh Sentsov released – video

A trailer of a new film by Oleh Sentsov, Ukrainian director and soldier, has been released. The world premiere of a documentary called Real will take place at the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary which will start next week. This is combat footage featuring Ukrainian troops, shot accidentally, which was then turned into a full-length film.

Sentsov accidentally shot this footage in the summer of 2023 when his armoured personnel carrier was struck by the Russians. Then he reached the closest trench and tried to organise the evacuation of a part of his unit with the help of radio connection. His unit came under fire with almost no ammunition at the position with the code name Real.

"Real" is not cinema in a classical sense.

This is a piece of life during the war which was shot accidentally but which shows its real essence in the raw, without falseness," the director revealed earlier. The documentary by Sentsov was co-produced by Ukraine and Croatia. The producers of the film are Oleh Sentsov, Denys Ivanov, Mike Downey, Boris T.

Matic and Lana Matic.

For reference: Oleh Sentsov is a Ukrainian film director, screenwriter, writer and public activist. On 10 May 2014, he was illegally detained in the city of Simferopol in Crimea by Russian secret services. In almost a year the Russian court sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment in a maximum security colony on the territory of Russia.

During his imprisonment Sentsov was rewarded with the Shevchenko National Prize (2016) and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought of the European Parliament (2018). Ukrainian and world filmmakers insisted on Sentsov's release. He was finally brought back to Ukraine on 7 September 2019 in a prisoners of war swap.

At the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine Sentsov joined the Territorial Defence Forces and participated in the battle of liberation of the city of Kyiv.

At the moment he is a junior lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the commander of the assault squadron of the 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade.

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