Militantropos captures the human condition through fractured realities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film combines everyday lives transformed by war — those who flee, those who lose everything, and those who stay to resist and fight, — tracing both the instinct to survive and the need for closeness.
Amid devastation and atrocity, the human is absorbed into war — and war, in turn, becomes part of the human.
Content warning: depiction of war
CREW:
Director: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozghovyi
Producer: Producer Tabor: Eugene Rachkovsky. Producer Mischief Films: Ralph Wieser. Producers: Les Valseurs Nabil Bellahsène, Justin Pechberty Damien Megherbi
Cinematographer: Viacheslav Tsvietkov, Khrystyna Lizohub, Denys Melnyk
Sound: Mykhailo Zakutskyi
Production
Production companies:
Ukraine: Tabor
Austria: Mischief Films
France: Les Valseurs
Sales:
Square Eyes
Director
Yelizaveta Smith
Yelizaveta Smith is a director, co-founder of the creative collective TABOR, and a member of the Ukrainian and European Film Academies. Her documentary film School No. 3 won the Grand Prix of the International Jury “Generation 14+” at Berlinale 2017, and she received a Special Award at the HumanDOC festival in Warsaw.Selected Filmography
Militantropos (2025), Break the Circle (2021), SOLITUDE (2019), School No. 3 (2017)
Director
Alina Gorlova
Alina Gorlova is a director, co-founder of the creative collective TABOR, and a member of the Ukrainian and European Film Academies. Her documentary film This Rain Will Never Stop won the award for Best Debut at IDFA and the Best Feature Film award at Festival dei Popoli, GoEast, Beldocs, One World, and others.Selected Filmography
Militantropos (2025), This Rain Will Never Stop (2020), No Obvious Signs (2018), Invisible Battalion (2017), Kholodnyi Yar. Intro (2016) 
Director
Simon Mozghovyi
Simon Mozghovyi is a director and film editor, a member of the National Union of Filmmakers of Ukraine. The premiere of his debut documentary film The Winter Garden’s Story (2018) took place at Ji.hlava IDFF. The film later participated in DOK Leipzig and won the award for Best Ukrainian Film at the Docudays UA festival in 2019.Selected Filmography
Militantropos (2025), Orpheus Stands on the Shores of Styx (2022), Salt from Bonneville (2018), The Winter Garden’s Story (2018) 
