“Breaking Point: The War For Democracy In Ukraine,” a documentary on the Euromaidan Revolution that ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014, has been included on the 2019 U.S. Academy Awards long list.
Directed by Ukrainian Oles Sanin, the film was nominated in the Documentary Feature category.
Sanin says he never expected the documentary to get onto the long list of the Oscars, but said he now hoped it would show Western audiences what Ukraine has gone through.
“With this documentary I wanted to show the world all the danger that Ukraine has survived,” Sanin told the Kyiv Post.
“I thought it would be difficult to reach out to the Western public, but I was truly amazed with the reaction of the audience in the United States,” Sanin said.
Sanin also directed “The Guide” and “Mamay,” which were the official Ukrainian entries to the Academy Awards in the category of Best Foreign Language Film in 2014 and 2003.
“Breaking Point: The War For Democracy In Ukraine” was created in cooperation with U.S. documentary filmmaker Mark Jonathan Harris, who won an Oscar for his documentary “The Long Way Home,” in 1997.
Released in 2017, “Breaking Point: The War For Democracy In Ukraine” features events from 2013 to 2016, and shows events from the start of the EuroMaidan Revolution in Ukraine to Russia’s invasion of Crimea and the start of the Kremlin’s military intervention in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
The documentary’s assistant producer, Oleksandr Chubko, said the movie crew had been working on the documentary since 2013, with the aim of showing Western audiences a full picture of the momentous recent events in Ukraine.
“The topic of the documentary is close to the (present) concerns of U.S. society, as it talks about democracy, security, conflicts, and human rights,” Chubko told the Kyiv Post.
According to a post by the Ukrainian State Film Agency on Facebook, the documentary features 86 interviews with EuroMaidan activists and participants of events in the east of Ukraine.
“Breaking Point: The War For Democracy In Ukraine” is one of 166 documentaries from all over the world that have been nominated in the Documentary Feature category.
The shortlist for category, which will include 15 documentaries, will be announced by the academy on Dec. 17, 2018.
The Academy Awards will announce the list nominees for the next Oscar awards on Jan. 22, 2019.
The 91st Oscars award ceremony will be held on Feb. 24, 2019 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California, and will be televised live worldwide.
