Oleh Sentsov is an acclaimed filmmaker, civil activist, former Kremlin prisoner, Sakharov Prize laureate and soldier. And also the author of Real, which was unveiled in its world premiere at KVIFF this Sunday. “What you are about to witness is not a film. A film has a beginning and an end, it's edited; this is not the case here. Everything takes place in one trench, you will perceive everything through sounds. Some of the people you will see in the film are no longer alive,” a Ukrainian army lieutenant said at the beginning of the screening, asking the audience to observe a minute of silence for his fallen comrades.
After the screening, Sencov answered questions from the audience. “The camera was on my helmet, and when I was getting out of the damaged vehicle that day, I accidentally turned it on while checking it,” he said of the entirely authentic footage of the 2022 Kharkiv offensive. He almost deleted the footage – but, in the end, he ultimately chose preservation and sharing, driven by a need to document memories. When asked about fear in the war zone, Sentsov said: “I always feel fear. Especially in places where I’m in danger. The question is how you overcome the fear and whether you conquer it, or whether the fear conquers you – if it does, you are not able to do anything at all,” he confided to the audience. Reflecting on the impact of wartime hardships, he succinctly noted, “No patient ever tells the doctor they’re sick.”
