The Reckoning Project. Documentaries Screening
The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies is an initiative of international and Ukrainian reporters, analysts and researchers to document war crimes and create appealing stories which would become the historic documents of the Russian war in Ukraine. Ukraine-based journalists and researchers collect witnesses’ testimonies of the alleged war crimes, record them in a neutral way according to the methodology which makes them applicable for litigation, the team and analysts verify them, while Ukrainian writers and documentary filmmakers create multimedia content based on the testimonies, under the leadership of renown international and Ukrainian writers and reporters Janine di Giovanni, Peter Pomerantsev, Public Interest Journalism Lab under Nataliya Gumenyuk leadership.
1. The Most Frightening Days of My Life. Yahidne
Yahidne, a small village in Chernihiv Oblast, was occupied by the Russian army from 3 March to 30 March 2022. The Russians locked up 367 local residents in a village school basement and held them there for an entire month. Dozens of children and elderly people in a room of 86 m2. People were imprisoned, denied food and medication, forced to sleep sitting in chairs and on the floor. On the 5th day, the first person died due to lack of oxygen. In total, 10 people died in that place. The dead bodies remained inside the room for a long period of time since the occupiers didn’t allow them to be buried. Additional 15 people were killed outside the basement. The film tells the story of how it all happened, how people managed to survive the cruelty of the Russian army.
Authors of the film: Svitlana Oslavska, Nataliya Gumenyuk, Angelina Kariakina, Lyuba Knorozok, Yuriy Dunay, Peter Pomerantsev, Andriy Bashtovyi, Andriy Lysetskyi, Anna Tsyhyma (In partnership with TIME magazine).
Duration: 18:20 min
2. Chernihiv. 03.03.2022
On 3 March 2022, Russian troops began aerial bombardments of Chernihiv. It was the 9th day of the full-scale war as well as one of the first massive aviation attacks of the Kremlin against Ukrainian cities, which resulted in at least 47 deaths. Near Chornovola Street, civilian residents of the city were standing in queues for medications, food, attempting to survive in an encircled city. These are their personal stories. The Hrytsyk family who lost two closest people. Halyna Pisnia who was dragged out of the rubble of her first home, the place that’s been a life-long dream of hers. Maryna Yeshchenko who was forced to flee her home again, just like she had to leave Prypiat back in 1986. This story describes how one single bombardment can affect the lives of ordinary people.
Authors of the film: Vira Kuryko, Oksana Karpovych, Angelina Kariakina, Vadym Ilkov, Lyuba Knorozok.
Duration: 18:42 min
3. CHORNOBYL 22
During the Russian occupation of the Chornobyl Zone in early 2022, a local informant is clandestinely filming the Russian troops. We hear the workers of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Station discuss their experiences during the Russian military takeover of their facility, an act of nuclear terror which threatened another global disaster at this site. Past and present catastrophic scenarios intertwine in this episode of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Author of the film: Oleksiy Radynski.
Duration: 21:13 min
4. The Lost Paradise. Viktor Marunyak
The film tells the story of Viktor Maruniak, the Head of Stara Zburivka village in Kherson Oblast. The village has been under occupation since March 2022. Viktor shares memories of his unlawful arrest and violent tortures that the Russian soldiers subjected him to. The man was released only when his health became critical. He was ordered to remain in the village and forbidden to leave Kherson Oblast. Viktor and his wife Katia eventually managed to evacuate and find a quiet place in Latvia where they recall the paradise that had been lost as a result of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Author of the film: Roman Bondarchuk.
Duration: 21:09 min
5. Station Kramatorsk
The Russian missile strike on the Kramatorsk railway station on April 8, 2022, that killed 61 and injured more than 120 people as they tried to evacuate to safer regions remains one of the bloodiest attacks against Ukrainian civilians since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Russian army launched the attack by firing a Tochka-U ballistic missile equipped with a cluster munition warhead at 10:28 am as more than 3,000 people waited in the station. As often, the Russian Federation tried to justify the strike by claiming that they were targeting Ukrainian military equipment. This is still considered a war crime because there were thousands of civilians in the risk zone. However, the use of such precision weapons as Tochka-U and the nature of the injuries point to the fact that the strike was targeted, intended to cause maximum harm to people and disrupt civilian evacuations from the region.
This film is an attempt to convey the experience of those who were at the railway station that day and to show what it means to be at the epicentre of such an attack. This story demonstrates the cruelty of the perpetrators of this tragedy, as well as the incredible strength and humanity of the survivors and of those who fought to save lives.
Authors of the film: Anna Tsyhyma, Nataliya Gumenyuk.
Duration: 35:40 min
6. “Return Me to My Dad”. Three Ukrainian Children Sent To Russia Against Their Will
The film tells the story of the Mezhevyi family, residents of the city of Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, which was captured by the Russians. The family was in the city when the city was occupied. Yevhen (the father) and his three underage children (Matvii, Sviatoslava, and Oleksandra) had to hide from bombardments in bomb shelters. In early April, the children were separated from the father during forced evacuation: following violent filtration procedures, Yevhen spent 45 days in a prison in Olenivka; during that time, his children were held in occupied cities of Donetsk Oblast. Later, they joined a group of 31 children who were sent to “Poliany” sanatorium in Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation, where they were given a choice: adoption by a Russian family or orphanage. Fortunately, young Matvii found a way to describe the situation to his father during a phone call. Eventually, with the help of his friends, acquaintances, and volunteers, Yevhen managed to save his children from Russia and reach Latvia where the family is currently building their new life.
Authors of the film: Iryna Lopatina, Angelina Kariakina, Lyuba Knorozok
Duration: 10:00 min
7. The Mall Hit By a Rocket
The story of the Kremenchuk Amstor shopping mall bombardment by the witnesses and survivors. June 27, 2022, was just another ordinary day at the household appliances and electronics store at the mall. Comfy bore the brunt of the damage: 12 of the 21 fatalities that day occurred in the store, as well as 1 missing person. The CCTV footage from the Amstor Mall around midday on June 27 showed a typical summer day at the mall. The cameras that day filmed Larisa, the Comfy store’s cleaning lady, busy keeping the crowded store in order. At the moment of the strike, the CCTV cameras caught a blinding white light, smoke, and then darkness.
Russia’s attack on Kremenchuk was one in a series of deadly strikes using a Kh-22 cruise missile on civilian objects that Ukrainian prosecutors believe could be ruled a crime against humanity.
Authors of the film: Nadia Burdiei, Lyuba Knorozok.
Duration: 09:00 min
8. The Hospital that Was Taken Hostage
The film tells the story of the life and resistance of the hospital in the city of Snihurivka, Mykolaiv Oblast, during the city’s occupation in 2022. In spite of the threats and scare tactics practiced by the Russian military for 9 months, 80 medics continued providing medical help to the local residents. They performed surgeries without any proper conditions, were forced to treat their invaders, remaining truthful to their oath, but also treated the witnesses of the war crimes, people who had been imprisoned and tortured by Russians, hid medical equipment during searches, and kept maintaining contact with the outside world to tell their true story while waiting for liberation.
Authors of the film: Anna Tsyhyma, Nataliya Gumenyuk.
Duration: 21:00 min