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While Venice was rolling out its red carpet for the opening of its film festival a week ago, director Evgeny Afineevsky was racing to finish his sobering documentary about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He managed to meet the tightest of deadlines, with “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” getting its world premiere at Venice on Wednesday, vividly depicting the impact of the ongoing conflict on ordinary civilians.
“Literally this movie was finished on the night of Aug. 30 to 31, so you are really seeing something direct from the ground of the war,” Afineevsky told reporters.
Even though battles are still raging within Ukraine, the Russian-born, Israeli-American filmmaker said it was vital to start telling stories from the war immediately.
“If today we don’t show to the world what exactly is happening in Ukraine… then we are committing a crime,” he said, warning that unless everyone stood up to Russia, it would soon look to reclaim other parts of the old Soviet Union empire.
