Russians at War is a 2024 documentary film, directed by Anastasia Trofimova. The film focuses on the perspective of various Russian soldiers invading Ukraine during the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
The documentary had its world premiere for the film industry on September 4, 2024, and for the public on September 5, 2024 at the 81st Venice International Film Festival. The North American premiere for the film industry was on September 10, 2024 at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was criticized as Russian propaganda by the Ukrainian government and various Ukrainian organizations, while the Toronto festival organizers defended the film as being "anti-war". The North American public premiere was planned for September 12. However, the premiere was postponed to September 17, with TIFF citing "significant threats" as reasons for the postponement. Toronto police were reported to be "not aware of any active threats".
Synopsis
Shot in a fly-on-the-wall cinéma vérité style, Russians at War follows documentarian Anastasia Trofimova as she spends months following Russian soldiers from their homes to the frontlines of occupied Ukraine, with many of her subjects revealing feelings of confusion and disillusionment with their government.
Trofimova embedded herself with a Russian battalion, as it makes its way across eastern Ukraine, getting a rare glimpse of an often ramshackle army in a regular state of disarray.
Trofimova takes the audience from 180 km behind the front lines where ranks are "replenished" to the trenches of the front line where the men die. The soldiers depicted are often volunteers who say they went to the front for various personal reasons: vague patriotism, avenging fallen friends, protecting loved ones, preventing their children from going to war in the future, or, more commonly, for money. Soldiers are shown drinking heavily, and sometimes note the pointlessness "of it all". One notes that they only return dead.
Production Trofimova, Canadian producer Cornelia Principe and co-producer Sally Blake noted that the production of this film started as an anti-war project to reflect the perspective of Russian citizens and soldiers regarding their country's war in Ukraine. In an unexpected turn of events, Trofimova managed to follow a Russian soldier, whom she had met in a Moscow subway, on his way to the frontline. Taking advantage of a lax approach of local commanders, she eventually embedded herself with a Russian battalion, as it made its way across the Donetsk or Luhansk regions of Ukraine. The battalion suffered 600 casualties out of 900-people-strong battalion by the time Trofimova arrived, and their morale was low. With very limited internet access and telephone contacts, Trofimova, Principe and Blake had to improvise to secure the obtained footage.
Editing and post-production was conducted in Canada and France, with editor Roland Schlimme involved in shaping the film. French musician Amin Bouhafa produced the music for this film. According to The Kyiv Independent, the film received $340,000 () in funding from the Canada Media Fund.
Deadline Hollywoods Melanie Goodfellow described the film depicting "botched military sorties; hiding, petrified in dug outs; shrapnel-shredded dead comrades being slung into trucks in body bags, and commanders in shell shock as they relive the day’s horrors. Any initial patriotic fervor dissipates, with the handful of subjects who survive to the end of the film questioning why they are there and expressing their lack of desire to fight, but suggesting they have no choice but to follow orders."
Release At the beginning of October 2024, after several festival premieres were cancelled, film producers were "considering minor adjustments prior to the pending global release of Russians at War, including a factual, contextual card in the opening titles". Film producer Anastasia Trofimova said that "many of those denouncing the film have not even seen it".
Venice International Film Festival The world premiere of “Russians at War” took place at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 5, 2024. The film received a five-minute standing ovation from the audience.
The Artistic Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera defended the film from Ukrainian critics, noting that the film is "very far from being an act of propaganda" and that "it is an anti-war film, with a very sensible and touching human approach, as well as great artistic craftsmanship."
Toronto International Film Festival The film had its North American premiere on September 17, 2024 at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival, immediately following the Venice Film Festival. The screening was surrounded by a noticeable social and political controversy. On September 10, 2024, the Ukrainian community held a protest outside the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto, where TIFF was holding the film's press screening. As some sources noted, none of the participants of this protest saw the film as it was only screened in closed venues in Venice, Italy a few days prior.
TIFF denied the request of the Ukrainian-Canadian community to exclude the film from the program and defended its decision in a statement released on September 11, noting that "in no way should this film be considered Russian propaganda" and that "as a cultural institution, we stand for the right of artists and cultural workers to express fair political comment freely and oppose censorship. Because filmmakers, like all artists, work in dynamic engagement with their societies, we believe that our role as curators and presenters of the film must stand for an unequivocal defense of artistic expression and a commitment to provide safe, open spaces to engage, critique and reflect on artists' work."
According to the TIFF organizers who talked to The Hollywood Reporter, "a number of former TIFF staffers had received numerous worrying inquiries requesting schematic floor plan diagrams of the Scotiabank Theatre, and precise details of its security arrangements for the entrance and exit of high-profile talent to and from the venue." TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey described that "in emails and phone calls, TIFF staff received hundreds of instances of verbal abuse. Our staff also received threats of violence, including threats of sexual violence. We were horrified, and our staff members were understandably frightened. We also learned of plans to disrupt or stop the screenings. Because last week’s screenings were scheduled at a 14-screen multiplex on some of the festival’s busiest days, we determined that it would be safer not to go ahead with those plans." In an unprecedented move for TIFF, on September 12 the festival announced that it was pausing the North American public premiere for the film citing "significant threats to festival operations and public safety". The pause resulted in the cancellation of three public screenings planned from September 13 to 15.
On September 15, TIFF announced that it had arranged the film's North-American premiere at two screenings on September 17, 2024 at the TIFF-owned Bell Lightbox Cultural Centre located in Downtown Toronto. During the screenings, there was a visibly enhanced presence of police and security personnel preventing any major interference from Ukrainian-Canadian protesters.
In his open speech before the screening on February 17, 2024, Cameron Bailey reiterated that Trofimova's film went through a "rigorous selection process and was invited based on its artistic merits and on its relevance to the horrific, ongoing war prompted by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine." He added that "TIFF screened a number of docs from Ukrainian filmmakers at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 festivals, offering firsthand insights into said horrors. We are deeply sympathetic to the pain felt by Ukrainian Canadians at the violence and destruction caused by Russia’s invasion, but verbal abuse and threats of violence, in response to the screening of a film, cross a dangerous line. We’re presenting Russians at Wars to stand against that abuse, against those threats, and for the importance of media and curatorial independence."
Anita Lee, TIFF's Chief Programming Officer wrote that "Trofimova assembles a spellbinding tale of sacrifice and disillusionment in which soldiers resemble pawns in a nefarious game. Russians at War reminds us of the human cost on both sides. As Trofimova so eloquently puts it, 'the fog of war is so thick that you can't see the human stories it's made of.'"
Lunenburg Documentary Festival The Lunenburg Documentary Festival in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia saw protests against the screening of the film with calls from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress to cancel its screening. In response to this protest, the festival issued a statement noting that "the film Russians at War was selected to provide further insight into a tragic conflict which is still ongoing. While not a comprehensive study of the invasion, it does provide a window to observe the devastating impact of distant political decisions on the lives of less powerful individuals."
Russians at War was screened at this festival on September 20, 2024.
Athens International Film Festival The Pan-Hellenic premiere of this film was scheduled at the 30th International Documentary Film Competition of Athens Premiere Nights, Greece, taking place October 2 to 24, 2024.
Zurich Film Festival The film was scheduled for four screenings at the Zurich Film Festival October 3 to 13, 2024. The organizers of this festival acknowledged receiving "protest letters" from the Ukrainian government. France 24 reported that the organizers released the following statement: “We can understand that the film evokes strong emotions in Ukrainians, but we will maintain its projection, because we consider that 'Russians at War' is an anti-war film". Keyston-ATS news agency also cited the director of ZFF Christian Jungen saying: "It was understandable that Ukrainians are unhappy", but insisted that "films should incite discussion". Jungen added that he considered the documentary an "anti-war film".
Ukraine's Ambassador to Switzerland Iryna Venediktova arranged a meeting with the ZFF Artistic Director Christian Jungen on September 24, 2024 and, as stated in her X post, "urged @zurichfilmfest to ban the screening of 'Russians at War' to avoid being weaponised by Russian propaganda."
On September 26, 2024, ZFF issued a statement that even though the film "will remain in the Documentary Film Competition of the ZFF", the festival cancelled the public screening of the film "due to safety reasons", adding that "the safety of its audience, guests, partners as well as the staff is the top priority."
In her interview with Die Weltwoche, Trofimova described the unprecedented threats to the festival organizers. The Swiss outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung comments that "This leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The question arises as to how drastically official bodies have interfered. It is an unprecedented incident: one cannot remember a Swiss cultural institution ever being forced to take a similar step by foreign actors – especially by actors from a friendly state."
Windsor International Film Festival The film was shown at the Windsor International Film Festival, which ran from October 24 to November 3, 2024. Executive director Vincent Georgie stated that "the film is there to create discussion and debates" and added that there will be additional security measures during the showings of the film, in response to the TIFF threats.
Mumbai Film Festival The film was scheduled to have its Asia premiere at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 on October 19, but its screenings were cancelled due to the festival not receiving the 'required permissions'.
Leuven Docville Film Festival