Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on April 7, 2026 in order to attend this event.
Please join the Ukrainian Film Club and the Harriman Institute for a screening of “A Simple Soldier.” Yuri Shevchuk will introduce the film and moderate the post-screening discussion.
“What am I fighting for?” is a question that the main character of the film “A Simple Soldier” Artem Ryzhykov asked himself hundreds of times. He asked himself under explosions, asked while digging another trench, asked when he had a camera in his hands instead of a weapon. “A Simple Soldier” is an intimate, front-line diary of a Kyiv director and Sundance laureate, who exchanged his camera for a machine gun on February 24, 2022. For 3.5 years, under the call sign “Canon,” Artem recorded his transformation: from a successful filmmaker to a soldier of the Territorial Defense Forces.
This is not just a film about war. It is a story about the fact that we do not have a “spare life.” It is a search for meaning in chaos, irony in dugouts and a promise to return home, where his wife Ira is waiting.
This film has received significant recognition. It was awarded “Best Documentary” at the Odessa International Film Festival (OMF) 2025, the FIPRESCI Prize, “Best Documentary” at DOK Leipzig, one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, and it was an official selection of TIFF (Canada) and Sheffield DocFest (UK).
The film was created in collaboration with Oscar-winning producers, Emmy and BAFTA winners, as well as creators of projects for Apple TV+ and National Geographic.
