Traces
Traces shines a light on Ukrainian women who, after surviving conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and torture during Russia’s war, refuse to remain silent.
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Simple Structures: Films of Docudays UA-2026
Peace for Nina
Authors: Jeanne Dovhych
Ukraine, Switzerland202680’
In original language, available with English subtitles and with audio description (settings in the lower right corner of the video player). Content warning: violence.
In original language, available with English subtitles and with audio description (settings in the lower right corner of the video player). Content warning: violence.
Peace for Nina is a documentary about a mother whose life has been shattered by war. Her son, Ihor Branovytskyi, one of the last defenders of Donetsk airport, was tortured and executed by Russian mercenaries in 2015 while in captivity.
Haunted by grief, Nina begins a relentless search for truth and justice, meeting witnesses and her son’s comrades to reconstruct his final hours and take steps toward accountability. Amid loss and danger, she finds strength in the memory of Ihor and in the company of other mothers of war victims.
The film is a portrait of resilience and hope, showing how even the smallest steps toward justice can become a path to healing and how a mother’s love endures in a world overshadowed by violence.
Producer:
Lyuba Knorozok, Dea Gjinovci, Zhanna Dovhych
Camera:
Petro Tsymbal, Maksym Rudenko
Sound:
Artem Mostovyi, Serhii Avdieiev, Andrii Borysenko, Natalia Avramenko
Editing:
Svitlana Zaloha
Production:
Liuba Knorozok, Astrae Productions, The Ukrainian State Film Agency
Distribution:
Liuba Knorozok, Astrae Productions
Read more about the film on DOCUDAYS UA
More films in the programme of Simple Structures: Films of Docudays UA-2026
The Illusion of a Quiet Night
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Silent Flood
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Don't Ask Me If I Killed
A meditation on endurance and moral gravity — on what remains of a person when the world forces them to fight.
Where Everything Disappears
Dmytro Dokunov, a Ukrainian nature-loving DOP and digital artist is enrolled in a combat unit to face the Russian invasion.
The Blessed Ones
Suddenly thrown into a brutal war, a group of Ukrainian artists must face a once unimaginable question: What can artists do when the world is burning?
The Silence of Others
A cinematic portrait of the first attempt in history to prosecute crimes of Franco’s 40-year dictatorship in Spain.
Written Down As Father
The spoken and unspoken correspondence between an abandoned daughter and a father defending his homeland.
Apocalypse Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, and the Day After Tomorrow
Why do some people choose to stay in their homeland even when each day might be their last?
Ember
In 2022, as Russian forces reached the outskirts of Kyiv, an elderly couple lost their home and everything in it.
Balance
What endures and what is missing, even when one has found refuge?
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One Day I Wish to See You Happy
Against the backdrop of war in Ukraine, filmmakers Max and Maryna try to hold on to their relationship as everyday life slowly falls apart around them.
Message in the Bottle
A documentary-experimental video about the personal and collective connection to Ukraine’s lost waters: the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Kakhovka Reservoir.
Scales
A short autofiction film blending personal video archives, performed scenes, and experimental sound into a road trip.
Broken Glass
Director searches for a gentler way back to artistic practice within the routines of meal preparation - one that embraces imperfection, vulnerability and transience.
Pietà
A short documentary confession about a mother who has lost her son in war.
And Where Now?
A multi-part video work created from materials filmed by the artist along Ukraine’s eastern frontlines while working as a fixer.
I Am a Rock
Playing with Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images” and a song by Simon & Garfunkel, the work delves into the paradoxical relationship between nature, language, and representation.