MILITANTROPOS — a persona adopted by humans when entering a state of war - accepting war as their sole means of existence.
Militantropos captures the human condition through the fractured realities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film pieces together 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.
CREW:
Script: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi, Maksym Nakonechnyi
DOP: Viacheslav Tsvietkov, Denis Melnik, Khrystyna Lizogub
Sound: Mykhailo Zakutskyi
Music: Peter Kutin
Production:
Funding:
Already engaged financial partners and funds: Austrian Film Institute, Vienna Film Fund, Film Institute, Creative Europe MEDIA, Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (Special Aid for Ukrainian Artists), SWR, ARTE, Sundance Documentary Film Program with support from Open Society Foundations, IDFA Bertha Fund, European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films, Ukrainian Institute, Eurimages
Sales:
Pre-sold Territories: Austria (Filmladen), France (Potemkine Films)
Point of contact:
Festivals
World premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival (2025), Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (Ukrainian Film Critics' Jury Prize, 2025), Sarajevo Film Festival (2025), DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (International Competition, 2025), Filmfest München (CineMasters, 2025), São Paulo International Film Festival (2025), International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam – IDFA (Best of Fests, 2025), Trieste Film Festival (Audience Award for Best Documentary, 2026).
