A New Documentary About Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Has the Film Festival Circuit Up in Arms

Documentaries about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are nothing new. PBS, Sean Penn and the BBC have all produced substantive films in the first 2½ years of the conflict. There aren’t, however, a lot of substantive films about the war from the Russian point of view -- until now.

Many pro-Ukraine westerners (but not all) are quick to denounce Russian-Canadian documentarian Anastasia Trofimova’s new film “Russians at War,” which is currently making its way around the film festival circuit, as Russian propaganda. Trofimova, who is based in Toronto, embedded with a Russian battalion for seven months in Eastern Ukraine during the 2022 invasion. The film’s premiere at the prestigious Venice Film Festival sparked outrage; now, hundreds of Ukrainians have taken to the streets of Toronto in protest.

The film’s official description is a “first-person documentary [that] takes us beyond the headlines to join Russian soldiers in Ukraine placing themselves in a battle for reasons that become only more obscure with each grueling day.”

Trofimova found her way to the front lines of the war through a friend named Ilya, whom she met during the New Year’s holiday at the end of 2021. Ilya was Ukrainian, but had moved to Moscow before the war began and became a soldier for Russia two months later as Vladimir Putin’s forces pushed across the border. He learned Trofimova wanted to make a film about the invasion and invited her to join his battalion. She embedded with his unit without authorization or press credentials.

“Russians at War” starts more than 111 miles behind the front lines of the fighting, where units are “replenished” before going back out to the front lines. We meet Russians who joined the military for reasons such as patriotism, vengeance or a consistent paycheck. What the film is careful to point out is that the Russian soldiers aren’t always granted what they signed on for: The “special military operation” is not exactly what they were led to believe, many don’t know exactly why they’re fighting and some aren’t even getting paid. What the film doesn’t show (or even acknowledge) are the myriad war crimes attributed to Russian troops at the time. The Russian soldiers simply dismiss those reports as “impossible.”

Trofimova is a former documentary producer for RT, a Moscow-funded news network, which adds to the perception that her film is pro-Kremlin propaganda. The filmmaker disagrees with that assessment and believes most of the negative press surrounding “Russians at War” comes from critics who haven’t watched the movie. In addition, she argues that her status as a Russian citizen and former RT journalist would have prevented her from making a documentary about both sides of the conflict, because she would have been labeled a spy.

"The suggestion that our film is propaganda is ludicrous given that I'm now at risk of criminal prosecution in Russia," Trofimova said in a recent statement to Agence France-Presse. "I unequivocally believe that Russia's invasion on Ukraine was unjustified, illegal and acknowledge the validity of the International Criminal Court investigation of war crimes in Ukraine."

“Russians at War” was funded with the help of grants from Canadian public broadcaster TVO, which has since decided not to air the film after the public backlash in Toronto. The Toronto International Film Festival had to temporarily halt screenings of the film, citing threats to public safety. Viewings of the movie have since resumed, but the accusations that the film is part of a Kremlin information campaign have never stopped.

"I would appreciate everyone who is leveling these accusations to first of all see the film because, from what I understand, none of the protesters that we saw has seen the film," Trofimova told CBC.

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