The Ukrainian Oscar Committee has selected the documentary ‘Traces’ by Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk as Ukraine’s submission for the 99th Academy Awards. The film will compete in the Best International Feature Film category
‘Traces’ shines a light on Ukrainian women who, after surviving sexual violence and torture during Russia’s war, refuse to remain silent. Through the journey of Iryna Dovhan, a former captive turned activist, who documents testimonies of affected women on the de-occupied territories of Ukraine, the film ‘weaves a collective portrait of trauma while opening space for hope’.
‘Despite the trauma, the six women featured in the film have come together to resist and demand accountability’, the film’s synopsis states. The film ‘Traces’ is based on the personal experience of director Alisa Kovalenko, who was captured by Russian forces in 2014, as well as on testimonies from the SEMA Ukraine community.
The producers of ‘Traces’ are Olha Brehman and Nataliia Libet through their production company 2Brave Productions (‘Timestamp’). The film was acquired by French broadcaster ARTE France while it was still in production.
In February 2026, ‘Traces’ received the Audience Award in the Panorama Dokumente section at the Berlinale.
What other films competed in Ukraine’s Oscar selection
‘The Eternity Man’, dir. Ivan Nikolaichuk;
‘War Through the Eyes of Animals’, dir. Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, Yuliia Shashkova, Maksym Tuzov, Oleksii Mamedov, Sviatoslav Kostiuk, Ivan Sautkin, Andrii Lidahovskyi;
‘Killhouse’, dir. Liubomyr Levytskyi;
‘The Last Prometheus of Donbas’, dir. Anton Shtuka;
‘A Simple Soldier’, dir. Artem Ryzhykov, Juan Camilo Cruz;
‘Silent Flood’, dir. Dmytro Sukholytykyi-Sobchuk;
‘The Last Message’, dir. Andrii Voloshyn, Oleksii Lebediev.
In 2025, Ukraine was represented at the Oscars by Mstyslav Chernov’s ‘2000 Meters to Andriivka’. The film competed in the Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature Film categories. It made the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature Film, but ultimately was not selected as a final Oscar nominee.
