The dramatic, emotional and intense Ukrainian documentary A Rising Fury has won three top awards at The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival including Best International Documentary and their biggest prize, the Supreme Jury Prize Feature Documentary.
Lesya Kalynska, writer-director, and Rusan Batyskyi also won the Best Director at the festival, which is one of the biggest showcases of documentaries in the Southern Hemisphere.
The movie follows two hopeful Ukrainian idealists, Pavlo and Svitlana, from the peaceful protest in Kyiv in 2013, to the Russian annexation of Crimea and covert war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Filmed over 8 years, Pavlo and Svitlana meet and fall in love during the Maidan Revolution, but find themselves on the battle lines protecting their land, democracy and their relationship over eight long years of Russian aggression and violence.
The documentary has received rave reviews from critics and audiences at many top film festivals around the world, and is now looking for theatrical release and distribution in Australia.
Lesya Kalynska said today “I am honored to win this award…Australians showed us their passion for our film and its message. It’s nice to see that audiences and the jury were moved by our work.
“I’m also happy because this victory proves regular people can make a difference. Every Ukrainian victory – on the front lines, politics, sports, film, music, journalism, culture in general – is so important to inspire people throughout the world to continue helping Ukraine in this good fight.
‘Even small victories like ours helps to believe that despite the overwhelming challenges – the big victory of Ukraine and democracy is coming,’ she added.
Image Source: arisingfury.com
