The Ukrainian documentary project “The Summit of Freedom,” which focuses on rehabilitation and the return to a full life after severe war-related injuries, has received a number of awards and has been selected to participate in international film festivals.
According to the project team, the film has already been named an Award Winner, Official Selection, and Semi-Finalist at festivals in various countries and cities around the world.
“Every festival award means a new independent jury, a new audience, and yet another confirmation that this story resonates across borders,” the project’s creators noted.
The film’s team emphasizes that its main themes are freedom, resilience, courage, and human dignity.
The documentary film “The Summit of Freedom” was released in 2026. The film was directed and produced by Maria Springis, founder of the London-based production company Dreams Into Reality Production. In her filmography, the project is listed as a 2026 documentary.
One of the film’s confirmed international selections was the Los Angeles Film and Documentary Awards, where “The Summit of Freedom” was included in the Official Selection.
The project tells the story of Ukrainian veteran Stepan Korobkin, who lost his arm as a result of a war injury and underwent 32 surgeries, after which he climbed Kilimanjaro alongside Ukrainian mountaineer Tetiana Yalovchak. The expedition became part of a documentary exploring physical and psychological recovery from a severe injury.
According to the filmmakers, the film tells not only the story of climbing Africa’s highest peak but also of a person’s return to an active life, overcoming the consequences of an injury, and finding a new purpose.
Tetyana Yalovchak previously reported that the film “The Summit of Freedom” has already received more than two dozen international nominations.
The film’s team notes that its festival tour is ongoing, and new screenings and results will be announced later.
Tetyana Yalovchak is a Ukrainian mountaineer, volunteer, and Ukrainian record-holder—the first Ukrainian woman to complete the “Seven Summits” program, which involves climbing the highest peaks on every continent, including Everest.
DOCUMENTARY FILM, film festival, The Summit of Freedom, UKRAINE, ветеран
A film about Mariupol, shot by Lithuanian documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius, won the Golden Eye Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the press service of the Verkhovna Rada reports.
“The documentary “Mariupoli 2″ was edited from material that the Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravičius filmed before his death. He arrived in Mariupol in March and filmed the lives of civilians. Then he died,” the message on the telegram channel says.
The jury of the Cannes Film Festival noted the film as “very radical, courageous, artistic and existential” and emphasized that it cannot be compared with any other film in the competition.
As reported, the Lithuanian documentary filmmaker Kvedaravichyus died in Mariupol (Donetsk region) on April 2. He is the author of the film “Mariupoli” released in 2016 about life in front-line Mariupol, which was presented at the Berlin International Film Festival.
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL, DOCUMENTARY FILM, MARIUPOL, SPECIAL PRIZE
The first full-length documentary film about coronavirus “COVID-2019: Exiting Red Zone” in the post-Soviet space was shot in Ukraine.
According to a press release from the film’s team, the film was shot just over two months.
The film was shot in the genre of “expedition film” in seven regions of Ukraine: the shooting took place in Kyiv, Kramatorsk, Kryvy Rih, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Cherkasy.
The plot is based on the stories of 65 characters, including medical workers, volunteers, ambulance drivers, entrepreneurs, employees, as well as patients and relatives of patients with COVID-19. The film crew visited 15 reference hospitals working with COVID-19 patients, as well as three intensive care units, where critically ill patients with serious complications were treated.
The film was shot within the project “Seven Films of Bno-Airiian” of former head of Kyiv Regional State Administration Mykhailo Bno-Airiian, who in the summer of 2019 headed Kyiv Regional State Administration and was in office for 100 days.
