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“This Film Is Our Act of Resistance”: TRACES Gives Voice to Ukraine’s Survivors of Russian Sexual Violence at Berlinale
The documentary film TRACES, which focuses on survivors of conflict-related sexual violence during Russia’s war against Ukraine, has been selected for the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).
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Directed by Ukrainian filmmakers Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk, the documentary tells the stories of Ukrainian women from Donbas, the Kherson region, and the Kyiv area who survived conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and torture during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and chose to speak publicly about their experiences.
The film follows Iryna Dovhan—a former captive, head of SEMA Ukraine , and activist—whose work documenting testimonies of survivors in de-occupied territories becomes the backbone of a collective portrait of trauma, resilience, and the search for justice.
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Dovhan’s own experience of captivity in the East of Ukraine in 2014 led her to become one of the leading voices in Ukraine’s fight against CRSV. After organizing the first gathering of women survivors in Kyiv, she went on to found Ukraine’s first survivor-led organization, advocating for both women and men affected by sexual violence during the war.
“For me, this film is more than just a film. It is a continuation of my purpose — to ensure that the perpetrators will ultimately be held accountable. It does not simply break the global ‘silence’; it breaks it so loudly that I hope it will leave a clear and lasting echo around the world. After everything I went through, the most painful realization for me was understanding that Russia will never extradite the criminals, that they will never be punished,” Dovhan said.
The film’s protagonists come from varied personal and professional backgrounds, including civil servants, entrepreneurs, farmers, and educators. Among them are Iryna Dovhan, a former economist and beauty salon owner; Olha Cherniak, a district administration official; entrepreneurs Tetiana Vasylenko and Galyna Tyshchenko; Nina, a farmer; and Liudmyla Mefodivna Mymrykova, a former Ukrainian language and literature teacher whose school was destroyed by shelling.
According to Galyna Tyshchenko, making the documentary was extremely difficult because it meant repeatedly returning to traumatic experiences, but that together with the women of SEMA Ukraine they were able to work through their pain in the name of truth and in solidarity with Ukrainian women who were brutally tortured and can never share their stories.
“For me, TRACES is a document of Russian crimes against the Ukrainian people—against our existence, against our identity—and we must resist them. This film is our act of resistance,” she said.
TRACES depicts how shared testimony and collective support can transform personal trauma into a force for truth and accountability. The film documents war crimes and the systematic use of sexual violence by Russia as a weapon of war, while also highlighting the solidarity and resilience of women standing together.
Director Alisa Kovalenko brings her own lived experience to the film. She is herself a survivor of conflict-related sexual violence during her captivity in Donbas at the start of the Russian war against Ukraine and was among the first women in Ukraine to speak publicly about such crimes.
“After what I went through in 2014, I remained silent for more than a year and could not share my experience with anyone close to me—my friends or my family. Despite my understanding of how important this film was, it was not easy for me to take that step. After the full-scale invasion began, the de-occupation of our territories, and the countless horrific stories of violence we heard, the awareness of how necessary this film was ultimately outweighed my inner fears,” Kovalenko said.
The documentary will be screened from February 12 to 22 in Berlin, Germany.
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