Oles Sanin
Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv.
ORCID ID 0009-0000-2225-187X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37627/2311-9489-27-2025-1.60-69
Keywords: Ukrainian cinematograph, “soft power”, Russian–Ukrainian war, national identity, documentary, cultural diplomacy.
Abstract.
In the article the role and potential of the Ukrainian cinematograph as a tool of a “soft power” in the context of the Russian–Ukrainian war is considered. It was found out that the Russian – Ukrainian war, which started in 2014, is a catalyst for the Ukrainian cinema development not only as art but also as a subject of the national dignity. Russian aggression has activated additional options of the cinematograph transforming it into a “soft power” and a tool of the national identity expression.
It must be argued that until 2014, the vast majority of films that belonged to the category of “national cinema” were Ukrainian only by passport, not by spirit, and their directors failed to de-russify and de-colonize themselves in a deeper sense. This led to an indifferent attitude and lack of interest on the part of the international film community towards Ukrainian cinema as a separate artistic phenomenon, which for a long time in the West and in the world was perceived in the projection of Russian cinema. It was only after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of a hybrid war that the Ukrainian film product managed to enter the European and global markets with a national vision. With the more big intensity these processes got activated from the moment of the full scale Russian invasion in February 2022, where the main role of a “soft power” started to play the Ukrainian documentary (“20 days in Mariupol”, “Our war”, “Porcelain war”, etc.) as an effective tool of damaging stereotypes as for Ukraine and the means of self-presentation of the Ukrainians to the world in the quality of non-Russians, different nation who has been fighting for own ideas, value and cultural identity.
Author’s Biography.
Oles Sanin, film director, candidate, Modern Art Research Institute of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv.
References:
20 Days in Mariupol. (2023, Jul 14). Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/20_days_in_mariupol
20 Days in Mariupol Reviews. (2023, Feb 22). Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved from https://www.metacritic.com/movie/20-days-in-mariupol/
Bakaievych, Y. (2023). Instrumenty «miakoi syly» v konteksti rosiisko-ukrainskoi viiny [Tools of «soft power» in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war]. Integrated communications, 1 (15), 104–110. DOI: https://doi.org/10.28925/2524-2644.2023.1513 (in Ukrainian)
Baziv, L. (2025, June 15). 15 filmiv pro viinu, zniati ukraintsiamy pislia povnomasshtabnoho vtorhnennia [15 films about the war, shot by Ukrainians after the full-scale invasion]. Ukrinform. Retrieved from https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-culture/3963277-filmiv-pro-vijnu-znati-ukraincami-pisla-povnomasstabnogo-vtorgnenna.html (in Ukrainian)
Bilash, K. (2024, March 11). Pershyi ukrainskyi «Oskar»: «Ia khotiv by, shchob tsoho filmu ne bulo» [The first Ukrainian Oscar: “I wish this film didn’t exist.”] LB.ua. Retrieved from https://lb.ua/culture/2024/03/11/602717_pershiy_ukrainskiy_oskar_ya_hotiv.html (in Ukrainian)
Bunyak, V. (2025, May 13). Kannskyi kinofestyval vidkryiut pokazom trokh filmiv pro viinu Rosii proty Ukrainy [Cannes Film Festival to open with screening of three films about Russia’s war against Ukraine]. Detector Media. Retrieved from https://detector.media/infospace/article/240839/2025-05-13-kannskyy-kinofestyval-vidkryyut-pokazom-trokh-filmiv-pro-viynu-rosii-proty-ukrainy/ (in Ukrainian)
Elsaesser, T. (2016). Film History as Media Archaeology: Tracking Digital Cinema. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9789048529964
Ezra, E., & Rowden, T. (Eds.) (2006). Transnational Cinema: The Film Reader. New York: Routledge.
Fu, W. W., & Govindaraju, A. (2010). Explaining global box-office tastes in Hollywood films: Homogenization of national audiences’ movie selections. Communication Research, 37(2), 215–238. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650209356396
Gorlach, P. (2024, August 26). «Pisnia zemli, shcho povilno horyt»: avtorka treilera Anna Eborn podilylasia vrazhenniamy vid strichky, yaku pokazhut u Venetsii. [“Song of the Slowly Burning Land”: Trailer Author Anna Eborn Shares Impressions of the Film to be Screened in Venice]. Suspilne. Kultura. Retrieved from https://suspilne.media/culture/821723-pisna-zemli-so-povilno-gorit-avtorka-trejleru-anna-eborn-podililasa-vrazennami-vid-stricki-aku-pokazut-u-venecii/ (in Ukrainian)
Koptev, O. (2024, February 23). V Ukraini startuvav kinofestyval filmiv, zniatykh pid chas rosiisko-ukrainskoi viiny [A film festival of films shot during the Russian-Ukrainian war has started in Ukraine]. Vidkrytyi. Retrieved from https://opentv.media/ua/v-ukrayini-startuvav-kinofestival-filmiv-znyatih-pid-chas-rosijsko-ukrayinskoyi-vijni (in Ukrainian)
Kuryshko, D. (2024, March 11). Chomu dlia Ukrainy takyi vazhlyvyi Oskar filmu «20 dniv u Mariupoli» [Why the Oscar for the film “20 Days in Mariupol” is so important for Ukraine]. BBC NEWS Ukraine. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/articles/c280wwxw9neo (in Ukrainian)
Lee, S. J. (2020). Cinema and the Cultural Cold War: US Diplomacy and the Origins of the Asian Cinema Network. First edition, Ithaca, Cornell University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501752315.001.0001
Lytvynov, S. (2023). Dokumentalistyka yak diievyi instrument kulturnoi dyplomatii [Documentary as an effective tool of cultural diplomacy]. Diplomatic Ukraine, 24, 775–784. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37837/2707-7683-2023-44 (in Ukrainian)
Melnyk, R. (2025, March 3). Natsionalnyi festyval dokumentalnoho kino Cinema for Victory oholosyv peremozhtsiv [National Documentary Film Festival Cinema for Victory Announces Winners]. Detector Media. Retrieved from https://detector.media/infospace/article/238725/2025-03-03-natsionalnyy-festyval-dokumentalnogo-kino-cinema-for-victory-ogolosyv-peremozhtsiv/ (in Ukrainian)
Nye, J. (2008). Public diplomacy and soft power. The Annals of the American academy of political and social science, 616(1), 94–109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716207311699
Peters, J. M. (2015). American Cinema as Cultural Diplomacy: Seeking International Understanding One Film at a Time. Los Angeles: ProQuest.
Shilova, A. (2024, Sep. 9). «Khoroshi» rosiiany na viini: ukrainske ta rosiiske kino na mizhnarodnykh kinofestyvaliakh (ohliad) [“Good” Russians at War: Ukrainian and Russian Cinema at International Film Festivals (review)]. Suspilne. Kultura. Retrieved from https://suspilne.media/culture/824501-horosi-rosiani-na-vijni-ukrainske-ta-rosijske-kino-na-miznarodnih-kinofestivalah-oglad/ (in Ukrainian)
Seitz, M. Z. (2023, 14 July). 20 Days in Mariupol movie review. RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital. Retrieved from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/20-days-in-mariupol-movie-review-2023
Strichka 2000 metriv do Andriivky zdobula premiiu F:ACT AWARD u Kopenhaheni [The film 2000 Meters to Andriyivka won the F:ACT AWARD in Copenhagen] (2025, April 4). Holovni novyny Ukrainy. Retrieved from https://renews.com.ua/kultura/strichka-2000-metriv-do-andriyivki-zdobyla-premiu-f-act-award-y-kopengageni/ (in Ukrainian)
Qureshi, A. (2023). Cultural Diplomacy Film Festivals: The role and efficacy of film festival programming as contemporary cultural diplomacy at the European Union Film Festival of Toronto. Master’s thesis. Ottawa, Ontario: Carleton University. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22215/etd/2023-15655
Voci, P., & Luo, H. (2017). Screening China’s Soft Power. Taylor & Francis Group. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315617930
Yishan, L., Kasimon, D., & Chwee Fang, Ng (2023). Exploring the Interplay of Soft Power, Culture, and Cinema on a Global Scale: A Review of Current Research and Future Directions. International Journal of Thin Film Science and Technology, 12(2), 147–157. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18576/ijtfst/120210
Yukaruç, U. (2017). A Critical Approach to Soft Power. Bitlis Eren Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 6(2), 491–502.
Zarichna, Y. (2024). Osoblyvosti funktsionuvannia kinofestyvaliv v Ukraini v umovakh viiny [Features of functioning of film festivals in Ukraine in the conditions of war]. Cultural Almanac, 4 (12), 335–342. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31392/cult.alm.2024.4.40 (in Ukrainian)
Published:
Section: UKRAINIAN CULTURE.