Director Artem Litvinenko (The Sniffer) has started shooting the documentary film Against All Odds (working title) about the Russian military aggression. This is a joint project of the Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP) and Gingers Media with support of the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies. The authors explore how Ukraine managed to thwart the “blitzkrieg” of the world’s second army, superior to the Ukrainian one, and defeat the aggressor near Kyiv.

“Many people have already forgotten the first days of the war, when they considered Ukraine to be surrendered in 72 hours. Why were they wrong? How did Ukraine survive? Did leading world experts overestimate the second army of the world or underestimate Ukraine? We don’t know the answer to these questions yet, but we eagerly want to find them,” said Ihor Storchak, co-founder of the OUP, founder and producer of Gingers Media.

“When you took the whole way of the Russian invasion, from the North to Kyiv, live, you understood how unequal the forces were,” said Artem Litvinenko, director of Against All Odds. “How was this attack repelled? At what cost? It’s all very important and difficult questions, and the answers are often shocking. How much Russian weapons were destroyed, how large were destruction and terror against civilians: when you see it with your own eyes you can see a picture of this terrible war?”

The film stars the world leading military experts, including Gen. Ben Hodges (a commanding general of the United States Army Europe), Admiral Sir Philip Jones (a senior Royal Navy officer), and Gen. Andrzej Fałkowski (a former Polish Military Representative at the Military Committees of NATO and the European Union). Also, the film shows the former and current Ukrainian Ministers of Defense Andriy Zahorodniuk and Oleksiy Reznikov.

“The opinions of international military experts — people with great military experience and authority — helps us to analyze the action of this war participants and to answer the question why the Russian blitzkrieg failed, despite the huge military advantage of the Russian army in equipment and manpower. And also why this scenario seemed impossible on February 24, 2022,” Litvinenko commented.

CGI maps of Ukraine, illustrating the course of the first weeks of the war, will help the viewers to immerse in details of the Russian invasion and Ukrainian resistance. Participants of these battles will speak in their own words how it was during the first days, determining the entire further war course.

“The war changed everything, it broke millions of lives, destroyed many plans. This film is our contribution to understanding the events happening before our eyes,” said Storchak. “I am grateful to Artem Litvinenko that he agreed to join the project. His professionalism, depth of research and creative vision will allow us to make not only deep, but also very attractive product for a wide English-speaking audience.”

The release of the documentary Against All Odds is scheduled for fall 2022. Now the producers
negotiate the worldwide distribution of the film.

The Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP) is a group of seven experienced Ukrainian producers, established in March 2022. The OUP makes documentaries and feature films about the premises, course and consequences of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine. In July 2022, the Organization is producing six documentaries and one fiction film. You can read more about the projects in the latest issue of TVBIZZ Magazine.