The AFUO is active across the community, advocating for the Ukrainian people from the halls of Parliament house, through to newsrooms around the country.
Visit our Newsroom page for the latest media about our activities.
Past Campaigns:
Antenna Documentary Film Festival: Stop the screening of Russians at War
On 10 and 14 February 2025, the Antenna Documentary Film Festival screened Russians at War – a film which normalises Russian aggression, spreads toxic misinformation and betrays shared Ukrainian and Australian democratic values.
Filmed in occupied Ukraine from the front-lines of Russia’s invasion, Director Anastasia Trofimova claims she has made an ‘independent anti-war documentary” about Russian soldiers, but the facts are indisputable:
- Trofimova, previously worked for RT (Russia Today) for 7 years. RT is a widely sanctioned, state-controlled media outlet banned in many countries, including Australia, for spreading propaganda.
- The director has referred to Russian soldiers as “heroes”, and “absolutely ordinary guys”, denying Russia’s history of military aggression against multiple sovereign nations.
- Trofimova spent 7 months embedded with Russian forces. This is impossible without Kremlin approval from the Ministry of Defense, FSB, and GRU (note the assassinations, poisoning, and imprisonment of individuals who have spoken out against the Kremlin regime).
- The film omits to say that more than 147,000 Russian war crimes have been documented in Ukraine, and fails to acknowledge that Russia’s invasion violates international law.
- Trofimova calls this an ‘anti-war’ film, although the penalty for this in Russia is a minimum seven years imprisonment (as faced by other Russian anti-war documentarians).
- Russian soldiers are presented as ”normal people” while ignoring their role in civilian deaths, terrorist attacks, torture, rape, and the mass kidnapping of Ukrainian children. To use empathy or compassion without accountability is disinformation.
- The film repeats standard Russian propaganda tropes, including that Ukrainian lands are part of Russia, that Ukrainians are ‘Nazis’, and that a Kremlin-backed regime should be installed in Kyiv.
- The screening increased anti-Ukrainian hate speech and online threats in Australia.
This is not a war on artistic expression – we’re talking about propaganda.
We cannot accept that in modern-day Australia.
The Kremlin understands that eroding Western support for Ukraine is just as crucial as battlefield victories. Films like this serve that purpose. They inject doubt, create false moral equivalence, and sap the will of democratic societies to stand with Ukraine.
As a publicly funded film festival, content should challenge audiences, but never present pro-Kremlin propaganda for Australians to consume.
Led by the Ukrainian Council of NSW, the AFUO and fellow Ukrainian community members held three separate peaceful protests, demanding Antenna Documentary Film Festival remove Russians at War from their programming. Photos and video from this protest can be found below (photos – Nicholas Buenk):
This was supported by a significant advocacy campaign, with the AFUO, Ukrainian Council of NSW, Ukrainian Embassy and concerned members of the community contacting the Film Festival to ask for the film’s removal. Our correspondence with festival leadership can be found below:
- Letter from Ambassador Mr. Vasyl Myroshnychenko to Antenna
- AFUO letter to Antenna 26 January 2025
- Letter from Ambassador Mr. Vasyl Myroshnychenko to the NSW Minister for the Arts
- AFUO Letter to The Hon. Tony Burke MP
- AFUO sample letter to Antenna sponsors
- Ukrainian Council of NSW letter to Antenna
- Response from Antenna to Ambassador and community
- AFUO Letter to Antenna 2 February 2025
Although the film was screened twice during the festival, we had great media coverage, attracting attention to this important issue. Media coverage from this campaign can be found below:
