The Invasion

The Invasion

Sergej Loznica, The Netherlands, USA, France, 2024, 145’

The author spends two years documenting the everyday life of his compatriots, civilians under the Russian invasion.

10 years after the release of his epic film Maidan, Loznitsa resumes his Ukrainian chronicles by documenting the country’s struggle against the Russian invasion. Shot over a 2-year period, the film portrays the life of the civilian population all over Ukraine. THE INVASION presents a unique and ultimate statement of Ukrainian resilience in the face of barbaric invasion. In the second part of his Ukrainian diptych, Loznitsa paints a detailed canvas of people under siege.

“This war has become the main topic for me – my main preoccupation, my main concern, something that I have been living with constantly throughout these two years. It took us two years to make the film, and the changes that have taken place in the country during these two years of war are striking. I decided to shoot short episodes. Each one in a different place and at a different time. Each episode had its own narrative – the beginning, the development and the end. Thus, over a period of 2 years, we managed to shoot and edit 30 short films, ranging from 5 to 25 minutes each. In November 2023, I began editing a feature-length film, based on these episodes. This feature-length film presents a panorama of Ukrainian life during these tragic times.” – Sergei Loznitsa

Sergei Loznitsa grew up in Kiev (Ukraine), and in 1987 graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic with a degree in Applied Mathematics. In 1987-1991 he worked as a scientist at the Kiev Institute of Cybernetics, specializing in artificial intelligence research. In 1997 Loznitsa graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. Loznitsa has been making films since 1996, and by now he has directed 25 award-winning documentaries and 4 fiction films.