Art as a voice of resilience and a testimony to truth
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Photo: UN Women / Yaroslava Nemesh
On 14 April 2026, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and UN Women Ukraine, a closed screening of the documentary “Traces” was held for the diplomatic community and partners.
The film “Traces”, directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko and co-directed by Marysia Nikitiuk, tells the story of Ukrainian women seeking justice after surviving sexual violence, captivity, and torture during Russia’s aggression. Going beyond documenting war crimes, the film focuses on a community of women who refuse to remain silent about their experiences. Through the story of Iryna Dovhan — a former detainee and head of SEMA Ukraine who documents testimonies of survivors — the film creates a collective portrait of trauma while opening space for healing. It is a story about the power of solidarity that brings hope even amid the devastating traces of war.
Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is a war crime. According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 until 30 November 2025, 784 such cases have been documented, including 151 women and 14 girls among the survivors. The actual number of survivors is likely significantly higher.
UN Women Ukraine systematically works to prevent and respond to CRSV by supporting the development of a reparations system for survivors — from legislative frameworks to the launch of a pilot programme of interim emergency reparations in kind, implemented by the Andreev Family Foundation with the support of the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF). Supporting artistic initiatives also serves as a powerful tool for addressing and countering sexual violence.
Photo: UN Women / Yaroslava Nemesh
Artistic forms make it possible to bring survivors’ often silenced experiences to a wider audience, while also creating space for solidarity and recovery. As director Alisa Kovalenko noted:
“For me, it is important that this film allows the international community to see not abstract, silent survivors who merge into routine statistics, but the faces of women who are capable of resistance — women you don’t just feel sorry for, but with whom you want to stand side by side in solidarity. I see this film as a film of strength, one that can transform empathy into a call to action.”
Photo: UN Women / Yaroslava Nemesh
UN Women acted as an impact partner of “Traces” to raise awareness of CRSV and amplify the voices of survivors. The film has already received international recognition: at its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary in the Panorama programme, as well as the Grand Jury Documentary Competition Award at the Movies That Matter Festival in The Hague, qualifying it for consideration for the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.
The production of the film was supported by SEMA Ukraine together with the Mukwege Foundation, Polish producers Message Film (Violetta Kamińska, Izabela Wójcik, Dariusz Jabłoński), the Polish Film Institute, International Media Support, HIAS, and the Ukrainian Film Academy in cooperation with the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity. Additional promotional support was provided by the Ukrainian Institute in cooperation with Eurimages.
The closed screening of “Traces” was supported by the network of CRSV survivors SEMA Ukraine, UN Women in Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, and the production company 2Brave Productions.