UPD [22.06.2026] Philip Sotnychenko’s ‘Times New Roman’ won the pitching at the Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania, as reported by the project’s team. The new feature film by the director of “La Palisiada” received 5,000 euros in prize money and the TPS Award for Development
Previously, the project had already received a grant of 180,000 euros from the European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films. Additionally, ‘Times New Roman’ is supported by the Eurimages Co-production Development Award program at CineLink of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
“I was impressed by the level of organization of the festival and the pitching. Before the presentation, we had the opportunity to rehearse, and our project was also selected for an individual script consultation with British screenwriter and consultant David Pope. For the further development of the film, this is a very valuable experience,” the director notes.
Original material [16.06.2026] Matīss Kaža, the co-writer and producer of the Latvian Oscar-winning animated film ‘Flow’, has joined Philip Sotnychenko’s ‘Times New Roman’ as a producer, Variety reports. The film is currently taking part in the pitching program at the Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania
About the plot
Unlike ‘La Palisiada’, which is set in the 1990s, ‘Times New Roman’ unfolds against the backdrop of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The protagonist, Roman, is a Kyiv-based artist struggling with a midlife crisis and alcohol addiction. He is offered an ‘ambitious project’: a series of three reconstructions of the historical assassinations of Ukrainian political figures who lived in exile in Europe.
In a conversation with DTF Magazine, the film’s producer, Valeriia Sochyvets, revealed that Ukrainian artist Yarema Malashchuk will play Roman. His creative partner, Roman Khimei, has also been cast in the film.
According to Sotnychenko, ‘Times New Roman’ explores the ongoing war in Ukraine through the eyes of an artist torn by inner conflict: ‘He struggles between staying or leaving, being useful or being honest, feeling or taking action’. The director says the film also reflects his own experience of ‘trying to remain an artist during wartime’.
‘Roman will travel back and forth from Kyiv, spending a long time securing the necessary travel permits. He will be reconstructing the assassinations of Konovalets, Petliura, and Bandera. This will serve as a reimagining of what life in exile truly means, as he constantly asks himself whether or not to return to Ukraine. Since things are getting worse and worse, people are leaving, and so many are already at the front’, Sochyvets says.
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Another theme at the heart of ‘Times New Roman’ is Europe’s memory and its role in history. The film reflects on the fact that these assassinations took place ‘in plain sight’ of European nations, as Russians have been murdering Ukrainian leaders in exile since the twentieth century.
The film is being developed against the backdrop of the repatriation and reburial of Ukrainian political leaders in Europe. In May 2026, the remains of OUN leader Andrii Melnyk were reburied in Kyiv. Ukraine has also secured permission to repatriate the remains of Yevhen Konovalets, who is currently buried in Rotterdam.
About the team behind the film and its production
According to Sochyvets, work on ‘Times New Roman’ began in 2024, following the release of ‘La Palisiada’.
The project first attracted the interest of Lithuanian producers Klementina Remeikaitė and Laurynas Bareiša of afterschool, who approached the director and the Ukrainian producers about a collaboration. Kaža came on board later. At the time, the project had no screenplay and its story was still taking shape.
They are joined by much of the ‘La Palisiada’ team, including producers Halyna Kryvorchuk and Sashko Chubko, cinematographer Volodymyr Usyk, and production designer Marharyta Kulyk.
About ‘La Palisiada’
The film marks Philip Sotnychenko’s feature directorial debut, shot in the style of a ‘post-Soviet noir’.
The story is set in Ukraine in 1996, just months before the signing of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which abolished the death penalty.
The film tells the story of a forensic psychiatrist. His calm and familiar life changes after he takes part in a tangled story of the murder of a local policeman. During his work, the protagonist begins to notice lawlessness in the law enforcement system and to doubt its correctness.
The roles in the film were played by Andrii Zhurba, Novruz Pashayev, Oleksandr Parkhomenko, Valeria Oleynikova, Olena Mamchur, Oleksandr Maleev, Stepan Barabash, Serhii Luzanovskyi, Oleksandr Mavrits and artists Yarema Malashchuk and Sana Shahmuradova.
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In 2024, ‘La Palisiada’ was selected as Ukraine’s official submission for the Academy Awards.
