'Freedom On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom': First Trailer

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline can reveal the first official trailer for Freedom On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom, Evgeny Afineevsky’s latest documentary set to debut at the Venice Film Festival next week.

The work is a companion piece to director Afineevsky’s Oscar-nominated Winter of Fire and documents the lives of various Ukrainians following Maidan, a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in the country in 2014, through to the 2022 Russian invasion.

Constructed through personal stories of ordinary civilians, children, soldiers, doctors, mothers, the country’s elderly, journalists, religious leaders, and international volunteers, the doc sets out to tell the story of millions of people whose lives have been turned upside down by eight years of conflict.

The film is produced by Evgeny Afineevsky, Ted Hope, Will Znidaric, Galyna Sadomtseva-Nabaranchuk, Shahida Tulaganova, and Inna Goncharova. Additional credits include cinematography by Alex Kashpur, Andriy Dubchak, Borys Yakovenko, Evgeny Afineevsky, Galyna Sadomtseva-Nabaranchuk, Inna Goncharova, Misha Djos, Viktor Hrom, Viktor Kozhevnikov and Shahida Tulaganova.

Editing is by Will Znidaric, Jan Supa, Ted Woerner, Alexander Chernobrovkin, Maria Yaremchuk, Maksym Korzhan, Maksym Smoliarchuk, Maxim Mironov. The film’s music is by Jasha Klebe.

The photography team behind the doc was still capturing footage in Ukraine up until last month. In a statement, Afineevsky said he set out to make the film to try and understand the origins of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.

“I wanted to understand how Putin’s aggressive agenda went unnoticed by the rest of the world for so long,” Afineevsky said. “Where did the Ukrainian people get this strength and what happens next? We tried to cover all these questions and share the most comprehensive view through the eyes of people on the ground.”

Freedom On Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom debuts out of competition in Venice.

Check out the full trailer above.