Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union. Mikhalkov is a three-time laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation and is a Full Cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland".
Jehane Noujaim is an American documentary film director best known for her films Control Room, Startup.com, Pangea Day and The Square. She has co-directed The Great Hack and The Vow with Karim Amer.
The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed in the Soviet Union and in the years following its dissolution. The Russian film industry would remain internationally recognized. In the 21st century, Russian cinema has become known internationally with films such as Hardcore Henry (2015), Leviathan (2014), Night Watch (2004) and Brother (1997). The Moscow International Film Festival began in Moscow in 1935. The Nika Award is the main annual national film award in Russia.
Oksana Stefanivna Hrytsai, known professionally as Mika Newton, is a Ukrainian singer and actress from the city of Burshtyn. Born and raised in Ukraine, she is currently based in Los Angeles, California.
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan is a Russian journalist and media executive. She is the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, as well as the state-owned media group Rossiya Segodnya.
Anita Indira Anand is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the president of the Treasury Board since 2023. She has represented the riding of Oakville in the House of Commons since the 2019 federal election, sitting as a member of the Liberal Party. From 2019 to 2021, she served as minister of public services and procurement. She oversaw Canada's procurement of vaccines and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2021 to 2023, while serving as minister of national defence, Anand led Canada's efforts to provide military aid to Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, sought to reform the culture in the Canadian Armed Forces following a series of sexual misconduct scandals, and made efforts to reform and strengthen Canada's military procurement of warships and airplanes, as well as re-establishing Canada's military status amid broad criticism. She is the first Hindu to become a federal minister in Canada. Anand assumed the role of President of the Treasury Board on July 26, 2023, as part of a major cabinet shuffle. Anand is frequently mentioned as a potential successor to Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.
Valentyn Vasyanovych is a Ukrainian film director. He is best known for his two films on post-traumatic stress disorder following armed conflict, Atlantis (2019), and Reflection (2021).
The 2022 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20 to 30, 2022. Due to COVID-19 pandemic protocol, it was initially intended to be an in-person/virtual hybrid festival, but on January 5, 2022, it was announced that the in-person components would be scrapped in favor of a wholly virtual festival due to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 9, 2021.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine received widespread international condemnation, leading to new sanctions being imposed on Russia, which triggered a Russian financial crisis. Reactions among governments have generally been negative, particularly in Europe, the Americas, and Southeast Asia, with criticism and condemnation made by many leading nations such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain.
Protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine occurred simultaneously in many places worldwide, including in Russia and in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, anti-war demonstrations and protests broke out across Russia. As well as the demonstrations, a number of petitions and open letters have been penned in opposition to the war, and a number of public figures, both cultural and political, have released statements against the war.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian military and authorities have committed many deliberate attacks against civilian targets, massacres of civilians, torture and rape of women and children, torture and mutilitation of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas.
Klondike is a 2022 Ukrainian drama film written, directed, and edited by Maryna Er Gorbach. The film stars Oxana Cherkashyna as a pregnant woman living near the Ukrainian-Russian border during the Russo-Ukrainian War and the shooting of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Klondike premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2022, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition for directing. At the Berlin International Film Festival, it won the second place in Panorama Audience Award category. This film was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.
Brent Anthony Renaud was an American journalist, documentary filmmaker, and photojournalist. Renaud worked with his brother Craig to produce films for outlets such as HBO and Vice News, and was a former contributor to The New York Times. According to Ukrainian officials, he was killed on March 13, 2022, by Russian soldiers while covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Irpin city near Kyiv.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, that began on 24 February 2022, has had a significant impact on women across Ukraine and Russia, both as combatants and as civilians. In Ukraine, the invasion has seen a significant increase in women serving in the military as well as a significant number of women leaving the country as refugees. In Russia, women have led the anti-war movement.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine led to widespread international condemnation by political parties and international organisations, as well as by people and groups in the areas of entertainment, media, business, and sport, where boycotts of Russia and Belarus also took place.
Marysia Nikitiuk is a Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and fiction writer. She wrote and directed When the Trees Fall (2018) and co-wrote Homeward (2019), both of which have drawn recognition as among the best Ukrainian films. Nikitiuk also directed Lucky Girl (2021) and published a collection of short fiction, The Abyss (2016), which won the Oles Ulianenko International Literary Prize.
Sniper: The White Raven is a 2022 full-length feature film from UM-Group. Work on the film began in 2019. The war drama won the 11th competition of the Ukrainian State Film Agency, and the film was awarded ₴23,946,572. The film is directed by Maryan Bushan and written by Maryan Bushan and Mykola Voronin.
Katya Soldak is a New-York-based journalist, documentary filmmaker, and author of Ukrainian origin. She is currently the editorial director for Forbes Media's international editions, focussing on Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet territories.
