BAFTA-Winning Film Humanizes Ukraine War

“My connection to film was created when I was still quite young. I lost my father when I was 11, and that was a very difficult time for my mother and I. During that time, I found a personal escape in watching films, especially adventurous ones set in other countries or those in which the lead characters had to transform themselves. I remember being quite young and getting fascinated when I researched what all the different credits on a film meant, like what a DoP or a producer does. I was a 14-year-old living in South Germany when I stepped onto my first film set as a runner and immediately fell in love with the process of making films, which, to this day, I think is deeply magical and amazing. I know I have experienced it firsthand how much films can help people. Obviously, when I say ‘help people,’ it sounds like a simple phrase, but I think it means helping people understand one another. Film helps us understand a subjective experience that somebody else might have. For example, in Germany, it helped understand the devastation of the Holocaust and all its different factions and the consequences massively. Cinema often helps us zoom in on a conflict, tragedy, or even a positive moment in a particular story, experience, or character to share the value of that experience. That’s what cinema is about to me. I’m very grateful that, as a young boy with no prior connection to the industry – I have no family members who work in the media industry – I was able to get into the industry this way. I’m grateful for the many collaborators I’ve had on this journey, and I’m looking forward to many more that I’ll hopefully meet in the future. I’m grateful I was able to study at the National Film and Television School, a place that was always a dream for me. I was able to meet so many incredible fellow students, many of whom helped me create Rock, Paper, Scissors. And in today’s world, there are so many conflicts brewing alongside new political movements and emerging problems. If you look at cinema over the last few years, I would say films have done an excellent job of helping us as a society debate these problems, and that’s what I’m really excited and passionate about.”

“We had the real pleasure of working with an extremely talented and international head of departments on this project. And we had enough time to prepare for the shoot and to figure out the audiovisual language and the overall design of the project. This was done through extensive testing, location scouting, and meetings. We also watched a lot of films [for inspiration]. So, the choice to use the handheld style was a result of those meetings. We wanted to deploy that specific style because the audience is never smarter than Ivan, our main character, and we wanted to be as close to him as possible throughout the whole film. We incorporated that into the score and sound design as well to resemble what Ivan is feeling during certain moments. For example, the moment when he shoots himself in the leg, you’re getting [to see] this incredible pain, and oftentimes [when] people have [severe injuries] like this, there’s a lot of difficulty [in trying to communicate] because all you can hear is your blood pumping through your veins so loudly. So, we tried to recreate that with both the sound design and score.”

“Well, we now have the support from the Office of the President of Ukraine – I had gone over to Ukraine during active bombardment twice in 2025. What was so heartbreaking and inspiring was the quiet bravery and resilience of the people in Ukraine. It was really important for us to ensure this story was as authentic as possible and was supported by that community. We brought over Ukrainian actors from Germany. We worked with the Ministry of Culture to bring over Oleksandr to be able to shoot in the U.K., and even that had its own level of complications because as soon as he arrived, his best friend was killed in Ukraine. Franz and I had a conversation about how we should postpone the shoot because his family and friends were far more important than the film we were making. We spoke to Oleksandr about this, but he said he felt a stronger drive to portray Ivan in this film because he understood the mission we were trying to achieve. As filmmakers, we understand the impact of storytelling; we understand that through the power of filmmaking, we can help people connect with different themes and realities affecting people far away and, subsequently, those who are really close.”

“I think it’s also worth mentioning that during the time of the production itself, when we were shooting the film and even pre-production, the real Ivan was in Ukraine at the frontline. So, the events the story is telling you are happening in real time for many other Ukrainians. Even up until this point, the conflict is still ongoing at the frontline in Ukraine. Ivan also passed before seeing the complete version of this film. We had an alternative ending that we had intended to do, but I’m sure people will understand this: you never really meet someone knowing that they are going to die [relatively soon]. That’s the weight we’ve carried throughout everything to this point: Ivan was alive whilst we were making this film, and then he was killed. There isn’t anything that prepares you for that reality, especially in filmmaking. When he passed, we cut out parts of that other ending because ethically and morally it didn’t feel right to continue his story in the direction that we were going to do as a result of honoring his death.”