Rescue

The historical documentary film Felix tells the story of a Ukrainian hero who was an aerial reconnaissance man. The project combines authentic accounts of the formation of Ukraine's independence, from 1991 to the present day. The film reveals all the key events that encourage the viewer to reflect on the cost of the people's struggle for independence from the appetites of Muscovy for centuries and continues to defend it to this day.

A story about children and adults who migrated from eastern Ukraine because of the war and found themselves far from home in a hostel for displaced people. This is a film about the everyday life and pain of refugees, about the search for small details that give strength to live and about adults who are tired of war. It is a self-reflection of refugees who believe that they will soon return home, without a clear understanding of when this will be possible and what awaits them there.

Checkpoint Zoo documents a daring rescue led by a heroic team of zookeepers and volunteers, who risked their lives to save thousands of animals trapped in a zoo behind enemy lines in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

In Russia, criticizing the war in Ukraine or Vladimir Putin’s regime has become a crime. Thousands of ordinary citizens are being arrested, tried, and imprisoned. They are called “Politzek”: political prisoners. Filmed clandestinely over the course of more than a year, Politzek gives a platform to those who, despite the fear, continue to speak out against Putin’s repressive Russia. Through the intersecting stories of a teenager sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing the government on social media, a young artist jailed for placing anti-war stickers, a human rights activist, and two theater directors facing Kafkaesque trials, the film unveils the machinery of state repression in Russia. With rare footage, broken yet unyielding voices, this is a story of silenced resistance.

The love story of successful businessman Alexei and young doctor Dimitri unfolds against the backdrop of Russia’s escalating anti-LGBTQ laws and the invasion of Ukraine. Meeting in secret during COVID lockdowns, the couple faces criminalization, police raids, and the looming threat of being sent to the front line. Their fight for freedom takes them across three continents in a desperate bid to live authentically and without fear. First-person testimony is blended with striking animation and dramatic reenactments.

Sangduen Chailert, or Lek, as she is generally known, has already rescued over 200 elephants. She has dedicated her life to saving the Asian elephant and founded a special camp, The Elephant Nature Park to protect them. We follow this winner of Time Magazine’s “Asian Hero of the Year” Award in her work. Lek is on a mission to save the Asian elephant in her native Thailand. This film looks at the plight of the Asian elephant, as it goes from being a widely used domestic animal, to becoming a burden on modernizing communities. With experts predicting its extinction within four decades, Lek’s work is needed now more than ever and she has gathered a large group of supporters and volunteers in her quest for a better future for the Asian elephant. This moving film demonstrates Lek’s natural understanding of and rapport with these huge animals and will stir the viewers emotions as it highlights the often desperate state some elephants are kept in.

Dobropillia is a town located in Eastern Ukraine: 70 km from the border where conflicts with the breakaway republics are raging on and people feel always like being on the verge of total war. The sheer uncertainty about the future pushes folks to cling on to their daily habits while trying to get along with the ever-shifting political landscape. A wide array of wildly diversified characters try to cope as good as they can with the hardships in their town. A death metal band keeps rehearsing daily. A teacher guides visitors through the story of the city. The wonders of a vibrating armchair are tested as a tool against stress and anxiety. An elderly lady who has lost her son tries to talk some sense into her fellow citizens urging them to accept peace.

Looted by Russian occupational forces between 24 and 26 October 2022, the Kherson Museum of Local Lore used to house Southern Ukraine's largest and oldest collections of antiquities. The museum featured more than 173000 objects, spanning seven thousand years, from Scythian gold to World War II weaponry. Two weeks before Kherson was liberated by the Ukrainians, Russian occupational forces enacted a strategic theft, stripping centuries of Ukrainian history from the museum/region. The sound of shellings and missile strikes was recorded during filming inside the museum on December 12, less than two kilometers away from russian-occupied territory.

This documentary records the journey undertaken by Jacques Cousteau, his 24-member team, and an NFB film crew to explore the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, one of the world's richest fishing areas. They discover shipwrecks, film icebergs and observe beluga whales, humpback whales and harp seals. The film also includes a fascinating sequence showing Calypso divers freeing a calf whale entrapped in a fishing net.

Reality in Ukraine was divided into two periods - before the war and after. Every citizen tries to be useful in this national resistance. Ukrainians change their professions and adapt to the needs of wartime. In art workshops, sculptors make anti-tank obstacles. Silent figures of Ukrainian figures, angels, Cossacks and multiple copies of Jesus Christ, like a terracotta army, froze in anticipation of new creations. Masters weld metal defenses for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Dmytro Komarov's documentary project The Year. Kharkiv Region. Dmytro Komarov will show Kharkiv in the first months of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. Viewers will hear the stories of people who found themselves in the epicentre of the brutal attacks: at the air defence base destroyed by a Russian missile, in the residential area of the city - Northern Saltivka - which was ravaged by shelling. The journalist will talk to those who played a key role in the liberation of the Kharkiv region. One of these people is Roman Hryshchuk, the commander of the 127th separate territorial defence brigade of Ukraine. He told us how the military practice of the past - using decoys in the form of dummies - helped to identify and destroy the occupiers. How did the full-scale war begin for Kharkiv? What plans did the enemy have for Kharkiv? What united people and gave them hope in the most difficult times? Find out in the documentary project "Year. Kharkiv Region".

At the heart of European diplomacy

Norman Smith has dedicated his life to protecting and relocating the snowy owls from Boston’s busiest airport runways. Called “the Owl Man of Logan Airport,” Smith has single-handedly relocated more than 900 snowy owls, creating the blueprint for how airports across the US and Canada can manage wildlife conflict.

During the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the spring of 2022, Russian troops occupied the suburbs of the capital for more than a month. This film is dedicated to the educators of the Kyiv region, who did not despair even under shelling, enemy control, and the constant threat to their lives. The viewer will travel through the educational institutions of Hostomel, Irpin, Bucha and Vorzel, to become acquainted with those, who hold, and will be holding in their hands the future of our country.

The movie explores the origin of the Ukrainian language and persecution of those who defended its authenticity. Using examples of other countries, creators of the film prove that a nation cannot exist without a language.

In the aftermath of war-torn Borodyanka, Ukraine, powerful murals by renowned street artists Banksy and C215 appear on the war-damaged buildings, inspiring a group of young Italian restorers to preserve these symbols of hope and resilience, that represent the transformative power of art.

Hnutove, Donbass, eastern Ukraine, 2015. Young Oleg lives in a war zone where anti-aircraft gunshots and missile attacks often resonate dangerously near. Although many inhabitants have already left this dangerous area, he remains with his grandmother, who has cared for him since his mother's death, because they have nowhere to go. They are just waiting for the war to end.

This sweet and inspiring documentary explores the highs, lows and daily realities of running a dog rescue. It tells the story of Diana England, a retired nail-stylist, who started her own animal rescue in Las Vegas, A Home 4 Spot.

This lesson in political revelation focuses on the shooting down of the Malaysian passenger jet MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. A meticulous, investigative exposé that lays bare the mechanisms of Russian warfare.

New York City's beloved Ukrainian restaurant Veselka is best known for its borscht and varenyky, but it has become a beacon of hope for Ukraine. As the second-generation owner Tom Birchard reluctantly retires after 54 years, his son Jason faces the pressures of stepping into his father’s shoes as the war in Ukraine impacts his family and staff.