The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies
The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies is an initiative launched by international and Ukrainian reporters, analysts, and researchers to document war crimes and create appealing stories which would become the historic documents of the Russian war in Ukraine. Ukraine-based journalists and researchers collect witness testimonies of alleged war crimes, recording them in a neutral way according to the requirements for use in court. The team and analysts then verify them, while Ukrainian writers and documentary filmmakers create multimedia content based on the testimonies, under the leadership of the renowned international and Ukrainian writers and reporters Janine di Giovani, Peter Pomerantsev, and the Public Interest Journalism Lab under the leadership of Nataliya Gumenyuk.
The Most Frightening Days of My Life. Yahidne
18:20 Min.,
Yahidne, a small village in Chernihiv Oblast, was occupied by the Russian army from March 3 to March 30, 2022. The Russians locked up 367 local residents in a village school basement and held them there for an entire month. Dozens of children and elderly people were confined to a room of only 86 square meters. People were imprisoned, denied food and medications, and made to sleep sitting in chairs. On the fifth day, the first person died due to lack of oxygen. In total, ten people died in that place. The dead bodies remained inside the room with the living for a long period of time since the occupiers didn’t allow them to be buried. Fifteen more people were killed outside the basement. The film tells the story of how all this happened and how people managed to survive the cruelty of the Russian army. Authors: Svitlana Oslavska, Natalia Gumenyuk, Angelina Kariakina, Lyuba Knorozok, Yuriy Dunay, Peter Pomerantsev, Andriy Bashtovyi, Andriy Lysetskyi, Anna Tsyhyma (in partnership with TIME magazine)
neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK)
February 29 19:00
The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies
Presentation by Nataliya Gumenyuk, Raji Abdul Salam, and Lyuba Knorozok
Chernihiv. 03.03.2022
18:42 Min.,
On March 3, 2022, Russian troops began aerial bombardments of Chernihiv. It was the ninth day of the full-scale war and one of the Kremlin’s first major attacks on Ukrainian cities, resulting in at least 47 deaths. Near Chornovola Street, civilian residents of the city were queueing for medications and food, attempting to survive in an encircled city. This film tells their personal stories: the Hrytsyk family who lost two people closest to them; Halyna Pisnia who was dragged out of the rubble of her first home, the place that had been her life-long dream; Maryna Yeshchenko who was forced to flee her home again, just as she had to leave Prypiat back in 1986. The film describes how one single bombardment can affect the lives of ordinary people. Authors: Vira Kuryko, Oksana Karpovych, Angelina Kariakina, Vadym Ilkov, Lyuba Knorozok
neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK)
February 29 19:00
The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies
Presentation by Nataliya Gumenyuk, Raji Abdul Salam, and Lyuba Knorozok
Station Kramatorsk
35:40 Min.,
The Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk railway station on April 8, 2022, that killed 61 and injured more than 120 people as they tried to evacuate to safer regions, remains one of the bloodiest attacks against Ukrainian civilians since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Russian army launched the attack by firing a Tochka-U ballistic missile equipped with a cluster munition warhead at 10:28 as more than 3000 people waited in the station. As it often does, the Russian Federation tried to justify the strike by claiming that it was targeting Ukrainian military equipment. This is still considered a war crime because there were thousands of civilians in the risk zone. However, the use of such precision weapons and the nature of the injuries point to the fact that the strike was targeted, intended to cause maximum harm to people and disrupt civilian evacuations from the region. This film is an attempt to convey the experience of those who were at the railway station that day and to show what it means to be at the epicenter of such an attack. It demonstrates the cruelty of the perpetrators of this tragedy, as well as the incredible strength and humanity of the survivors and of those who fought to save lives. Authors: Anna Tsyhyma, Natalia Gumenyuk
neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf, Between Bridges, Prater Galerie
February 23–June 9
Kyiv Perennial
The Hospital that Was Taken Hostage
21:00 Min.,
The film tells the story of the life and resistance of the hospital in the city of Snihurivka, Mykolaiv Oblast, during the city’s occupation in 2022. In spite of the threats and scare tactics practiced by the Russian military for nine months, 80 medics continued providing medical help to the local residents. They performed surgeries under dire conditions, were forced to treat their invaders, remaining truthful to their oath, but also treated the witnesses, people who had been imprisoned and tortured by Russians, hid medical equipment during searches, and maintained contact with the outside world to tell their true story while waiting for liberation. Authors: Anna Tsyhyma, Natalia Gumenyuk
neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK)
February 29 19:00
The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies
Presentation by Nataliya Gumenyuk, Raji Abdul Salam, and Lyuba Knorozok