We commemorate three years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine with a first warm-up screening in anticipation of the 18th One World Romania. We invite you on February 24 at Cinema Elvire Popesco, where from 8PM we will host a special screening of “Euromaidan. Rough Cut” (2014), directed by Roman Bondarchuk et al, and an excerpt from Helena Maksyom’s “The Soldier’s Journey” (2025).
“Euromaidan. Rough Cut”, a mosaic of personal stories which was screened at OWR back in 2015, depicts a city turned into trenches where people fight for a better country. While the reference to “rough cut” in its title refers to the situation of the Ukrainian state rather than that of the film, it should be noted that the second title of the night is one still in the editing stage. The film – which was developed within the OWR doc-workshop Work-in-Progress and will be finished later this year – finds Ukrainian director Helena Maksyom, known to the Romanian public for “Everything Will Not Be Fine” (2020), co-directed with Adrian Pîrvu, experiencing the brutality of the Russian invasion from the frontline.
In 2022, after witnessing the April 8 rocket attack that obliterated 51 people at the Kramatorsk train station, Helena enlisted in the National Guard of Ukraine. During her more than two years on the battlefield, she kept a video diary that also serves as a travelogue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the camera tracking her transformation from average civilian to combat veteran. A 21-minute excerpt from the film will be shown for the first time, in the presence of producer Adrian Pîrvu, who will stick with us after the screening for a Q&A session.
Tickets are now available through Eventbook.ro.
Now in its 18th year, One World Romania calls for a closer connection with its audience in a society riven by multiple crises and the rise of radical and extremist discourses. OWR also aims to look to the future by revisiting several moments that have marked its existence.
About the films
EUROMAIDAN. ROUGH CUT
Directed by: Roman Bondarchuk et al.
Ukraine, 2014, 55 min.
In the autumn of 2013, the Ukrainian government suspended meetings regarding accession to the EU. This prompted a period of civil unrest culminating in the resignation of pro-Russian president Yanukovych and open conflict in the eastern part of the country. A group of filmmakers began recording these developments in their country from up close; their collective documentary presents a mosaic of suggestive images and personal stories organized into chapters according to theme and the filmmaker’s approach. The “Rough Cut” in the film’s title is not an indication of the incompleteness of the work but rather a metaphorical description of the situation in which the Ukrainian state currently exists.
THE SOLDIER’S JOURNEY (WORK-IN-PROGRESS)
Directed by: Helena Maksyom
Romania, Ukraine, Germany, Netherlands, 2025, 21 min.
When Ukrainian filmmaker Helena Maksyom experiences the brutality of the Russian full-scale invasion firsthand, she feels she has no choice but to take up arms and join the military. During her first steps as a soldier, she keeps filming to not lose humanity while she watches her friends die or fight to keep their sanity.
