The Kharkiv Files (2023)

Overview

Shot over the entire first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, The Kharkiv Files documents the life of soldiers and civilians from Ukraine’s second-largest city and the surrounding oblast. The first half of the film shows life in the late winter and early spring, when Russian forces were relentlessly bombarding the city from its outskirts and Ukrainian forces were stubbornly resisting. The second half shows Ukrainian forces slowly pushing the Russians back towards the border, culminating in their famous counteroffensive in the fall. The film ends with the return of winter. The Russians have been almost entirely expelled from Kharkiv oblast, and a semblance of normality has returned to the city. But with the war still raging, no one knows if the battle for Kharkiv is truly finished.