Ukraine selects Roman Bondarchuk’s documentary UKRANIAN SHERIFFS to represent the nation in this year’s Academy Award Foreign Language Category.The film premiered at last year’s Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, where it won the jury special prize in the main competition.
Viktor and Volodya, two democratically chosen sheriffs, who try to keep the peace in their East-Ukrainian village near Crimea. Every day they do their utmost to settle neighborly disputes over lost ducks, stuck strollers, and other tragedies of daily life with compassion and a healthy sense of humor. On the eve of the country’s 70th anniversary of WWII’s victory, the village starts to feel the rumblings of the Russian invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Men are being drafted into the Ukrainian Army to defend their country. Viktor and Volodya find themselves dealing with the rising tension of the impending invasion.
Stay tuned for more on this heartfelt, often comical, slice-of-life documentary on Ukranian Sheriffs!
Roman Bondarchuk is the artistic director of the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Docudays UA. As a documentary filmmaker, he has collaborated with MDR, ZDF, Arte and other European TV channels. Some of his well-known award-winning films include THE TAXI-DRIVER, RADUNYTSIA, and EUROMAIDAN. ROUGH CUT. and CAFE VOYAGE. UKRAINIAN SHERIFFS marks his first feature-length documentary.
(Source: Silversalt PR press release provided by Thessa Mooij)
