Screening of ‘Women Guardians at War’ by Ukranian Filmmaker Set For March 2

Volodymyr Sydko’s Women Guardians at War focuses on the roles of 5 Ukrainian women, a mother, an actress, a soldier, a volunteer, and a nurse as they respond to Russia’s February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The five short films will be introduced by members of the local Ukrainian community, and a Q&A panel discussion will be incorporated in the screening. The films will be screened at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 2, at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center in Moscow. Lost Horse Press, publisher of the dual language Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series will have books available for purchase in the lobby during the intermission. Admission is free and open to the public.

Sydko and his film team documented the events in Ukraine after the full-scale invasion: “This is to show not only to Ukrainians, but to the whole world what is happening here, what a terrible war this is for us, how difficult it is for all of us, and how important the help we are receiving from the world is to us,” Sydko said of his films.

The invasion precipitated the need for average Ukrainians to do extraordinary things in defense of their country. One of the protagonists, bus driver Liudmyla Kravchenka, now spends much of her time cooking food to ensure that the Ukrainian military receives a square meal. Kravchenka states: “Throughout my life, I have always thought of myself as a coward. But since [2022], that has all just disappeared.” She, like other protagonists in the film, are contributing their skills from various spheres, from cooking to defense, the arts, and medical care, and ensuring that the bodies of fallen soldiers are recovered and returned to their families.

Once the owner of a successful travel agency, Tetiana Pototska volunteers to retrieve the bodies of Ukrainians who died in the war. When her friend’s father was killed in heavily shelled Kharkiv, it took 48 days to reach the besieged city, Reznowski said. The Ukrainian military later called Pototska to retrieve the body of a soldier in another hard-to-reach area. She recognized the soldier’s name as her friend’s son and began focusing her work more specifically on military personnel.

Olena Pedia, who arrived in Pullman in 2023 from Russian-occupied Melitopol, will introduce the film about Oksana “Xena” Rubaniak, a machine gunner who volunteered for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Pedia recalls watching “Xena: Warrior Princess” on television as a young girl growing up in Ukraine and dreaming of being like Xena. “I never thought that Xena would actually exist as my fellow citizen, that she would protect me from my enemies…,” Pedia said. “Years go by; heroes change. Now I want to be like Oksana Rubaniak, a woman who repels the enemy, writes poems, and creates the history of my country.”

The screening is sponsored by the WSU Department of History, the WSU Department of English, the David G. Pollart Center for Arts and Humanities, WSU Libraries, and Lost Horse Press.