Show of the week: Against All Odds

One year on from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this documentary explores how the country managed to withstand the first months of the conflict, despite its much smaller military force and widespread predictions that the capital city, Kiev, would fall in days.

“This is probably the most documented war in the history of mankind,” director Artem Lytvynenko and producer Igor Storchak tell TBI, with the documentary exploring the events of the past 12 months through videos from smartphones, security cameras and drones, as well as footage handed over by the military.

“There are many videos of war crimes,” reveal the filmmakers, who also interviewed international experts such as William Taylor, the former US ambassador to Ukraine and Andrzej Fałkowski, a retired Polish general, to provide an “independent and unbiased assessment” of the conflict.

“No one believed that Ukraine would hold out. Russia is huge, its resources are enormous, and it had the second-largest army in the world (at least at the time of the invasion). Everything indicated that Ukraine would fall. But it didn’t. Why? How? At what cost? That is what our film is about.”

Producer: Gingers, Illuminated Content, OUP Documentary
Distributor: Autentic Distribution
Broadcaster: N-TV (Germany)
Logline: Documentary exploring how Ukraine managed to hold out against its Russian invaders during the first months of the conflict