{"id":6371,"date":"2026-02-22T14:54:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T12:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/?p=6371"},"modified":"2026-02-22T18:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T16:22:03","slug":"slidy-kino-pro-sylu-zhinochogo-sprotyvu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/slidy-kino-pro-sylu-zhinochogo-sprotyvu\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTraces\u201d: A Film About the Power of Women\u2019s Resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Berlin International Film Festival traditionally features many politically and militarily themed films. Against this backdrop\u2014at least among those we had the chance to see\u2014the Ukrainian film \u201cTraces\u201d stands out for its extraordinary atmosphere of resistance and\u2026 constructiveness. Most films deliver the message: \u201cEnough! Something must be done! Help is needed!\u201d The Ukrainian film, however, says: \u201cWe are acting and we are changing things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women who have survived captivity and sexual violence represent one of the most traumatic subjects imaginable. The first thought that arose even while reading the synopsis concerned the challenge of bringing such a topic to the screen\u2014how, and whether at all, such an experience can be represented ethically and adequately in cinema. A similar debate once surrounded the cinematic portrayal of the Holocaust; to this day, Claude Lanzmann\u2019s 1985 documentary \u201cShoah\u201d is considered exemplary, where the inexpressible experience is \u201cread\u201d through the subtlest nuances of those filmed: the expression in their eyes, the trembling of their fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience of sexual violence and its consequences is of a different order, and documenting it is not the central focus of \u201cTraces.\u201d The camera consciously refuses to fully \u201cexpose\u201d its protagonists and their emotions to the viewer, delicately \u201clooking away\u201d at the most dramatic moments of their confessions. Warmth and love for the heroines, and a deep understanding of them (literal understanding, since co-director Alisa Kovalenko knows from personal experience what she is filming), are what the film breathes. It is profoundly \u201cfeminine\u201d\u2014not simply because it was created by women and about women, but because it conveys a distinctly female perspective on events. It shapes perception\u2014and not merely shapes it, but transforms it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Traces
Country: UKR, POL 20262026
Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk
Photo description: Tetiana Vasylenko, Nina, Liudmyla Mefodiivna
Section: Panorama 2026
\u00a9 Alisa Kovalenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sexual violence as a form of warfare has been known for centuries; it is also a kind of destruction, albeit symbolic. A woman who has been violated is supposed to be broken by it; her very existence is meant to be defined by shame which, by the strange logic of patriarchal society, falls not on the perpetrator but on her. \u201cTraces\u201d resolutely refuses to stigmatize the victim for someone else\u2019s crime and restores her subjectivity. The stories of Iryna, Olha, Tetiana, Halyna, Nina, and Liudmyla Mefodiivna do not end with recounting their trauma on camera, eliciting sympathy from viewers and horror at the atrocities of war. Above all, this is a story of recovery\u2014difficult and painful, certainly\u2014but most importantly, a story of channeling pain into active engagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A separate \u201cheroine\u201d of the film is SEMA Ukraine (part of the global SEMA Network), an organization that supports survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and documents related war crimes committed by Russia. Iryna Dovhan is its founder and head; the other protagonists and co-director Alisa Kovalenko are also members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a sense, \u201cTraces\u201d itself can be seen as one of SEMA\u2019s actions: the film not only provides detailed insight into the organization\u2019s activities, but also fulfills an important mission by recording survivors\u2019 testimonies and bringing them to a global audience. Its premiere at the Berlinale and the audience award it received are important steps in accomplishing this mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here one recalls an image from another film presented at the Berlinale\u2014\u201cJosephine\u201d by Bet de Ara\u00fajo (USA). A girl who witnessed a rape and is haunted by the image of the perpetrator is advised by a psychologist: \u201cBecome a ghost for the ghost.\u201d In other words, it is not the victim or the witnesses who should be afraid. The criminals\u2014who face inevitable justice\u2014should be afraid. Members of SEMA (and this is important: men who have suffered SGBV also seek support from the organization), as well as all those working to hold perpetrators accountable, become such \u201cghosts for ghosts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Traces
Country: UKR, POL 20262026
Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk
Photo description: Liudmyla Mefodiivna
Section: Panorama 2026
\u00a9 Alisa Kovalenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the painstaking daily work of rebuilding one\u2019s own and others\u2019 lives continues. On a board shown in the film are flower appliqu\u00e9s whose petals are slips of paper bearing the survivors\u2019 life goals. The goals vary\u2014from learning to dance to starting a family\u2014but their purpose is clear: to set a life direction, to learn to live fully again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Particularly powerful are the words we hear in the film: \u201cThey wanted to make us unhappy. But the fact that we are alive, that they failed to break us, that we are happy\u2014that is our victory. And with this, we defeat them every day.\u201d These words, the board of life goals, the scenes showing women restoring their living spaces\u2014their cosmos\u2014patching bullet holes, painting houses, creating art\u2014are perhaps the heart of the film. What captivates viewers, and what seems to have brought \u201cTraces\u201d its highest recognition\u2014the Audience Award\u2014is the spirit of resistance and will to live that it radiates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Traces
Country: UKR, POL 20262026
Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk
Photo description: Iryna Dovhan
Section: Panorama 2026
\u00a9 Alisa Kovalenko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These are not stories of people to be pitied or rescued. They are stories of people who act and prevail, because they know truth is on their side and possess the will and knowledge to achieve justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this note, one might conclude the review\u2014but finally, we should mention another feature of the film: its poetic quality. Despite everything, it is also a tender and lyrical work, filled with metaphorical images of nature: the garden recalled by Iryna Dovhan, a sunflower field (perhaps the most emblematic Ukrainian landscape since Dovzhenko\u2019s films), branches encased in ice awaiting the inevitable spring\u2026 Not all documentaries employ visual metaphors so extensively\u2014and here, too, one senses an appeal to the Ukrainian poetic cinema tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Traces
Country: UKR, POL 20262026
Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk
Photo description: Alisa Kovalenko
Section: Panorama 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In short, another Ukrainian cinematic voice has resounded powerfully on one of the world\u2019s key film stages\u2014and undoubtedly left traces in the souls of its viewers. May this victory become yet another significant step toward restoring justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u0421\u043b\u0456\u0434\u0438\"
Traces
Country: UKR, POL 20262026
Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk
Photo description: Marysia Nikitiuk
Section: Panorama 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u041d\u0430 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u043b\u0456\u043d\u0430\u043b\u0435 \u0442\u0440\u0430\u0434\u0438\u0446\u0456\u0439\u043d\u043e \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u043e \u0447\u0438\u043c\u0430\u043b\u043e \u0444\u0456\u043b\u044c\u043c\u0456\u0432 \u043d\u0430 \u043f\u043e\u043b\u0456\u0442\u0438\u0447\u043d\u0443 \u0439 \u0432\u0456\u0439\u0441\u044c\u043a\u043e\u0432\u0443 \u0442\u0435\u043c\u0430\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0443, \u0456 \u043d\u0430 \u0457\u0445\u043d\u044c\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u0442\u043b\u0456<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[351,175],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-6371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-berlinale-2026","tag-festyvalne-kino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6379,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6371\/revisions\/6379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6371"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kilok.art\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=6371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}