17th BIFFes 2026
Jan 29th - 06th Feb 2026
"Woman: Shared Sensibilities, A Collective Voice for Equality"
MILITANTROPOS
N/A
Militantropos captures the human condition through the fractured realities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film pieces together everyday lives transformed by war—those who flee, those who lose everything, and those who stay to resist. Amid devastation and atrocity, it traces the instinct to survive and the deep-seated need for closeness. It is a profound exploration of how the human is absorbed into war, and how war, in turn, becomes an inseparable part of the human soul.
Producer(s) or Production Company:
Eugene Rachkovsky, Ralph Wieser, Nabil Bellahsene
Screenplay:
Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi, Maksym Nakonechnyi
Director of Photography:
Viacheslav Tsvietkov, Khrystyna Lizohub, Denis Melnyk
Editor :
Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi
Music :
Peter Kutin
Yelizaveta Smith (b. 1990 in Odesa, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian filmmaker and a member of both the Ukrainian and European Film Academies. She graduated from the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University and gained international recognition when her documentary SCHOOL NUMBER 3 (2017) won the Grand Prix in the Berlinale Generation 14plus competition in 2017. Known for her sensitive, humanistic storytelling, she most recently co-directed the documentary MILITANTROPOS (2025), which premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
Alina Gorlova (b. 1992 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine) is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker who studied at the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University and co-founded TABOR production. Her work, including No Obvious Signs and This Rain Will Never Stop, has been recognized at major international festivals such as DOK Leipzig and IDFA for its powerful exploration of the psychological and human impact of conflict. She continues to make vital films about lived experience, most recently co-directing MILITANTROPOS (2025).
Simon Mozgovyi (b. 1992, Kharkiv, Ukraine) is a multifaceted filmmaker, screenwriter, editor, producer, and actor who studied Cinema and Television Arts at the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture before expanding into dramaturgy and theatre in Kyiv. His documentary THE WINTER GARDEN’S TALE (2018) has screened at major international festivals, and his work is known for its poetic, observational lens on human reality. Most recently, he co-directed the documentary MILITANTROPOS (2025) with Alina Gorlova and Yelizaveta Smith, which premiered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.