12/10/2016 - Young director Roman Bondarchuk's first feature-length documentary will be Ukraine’s submission to battle it out in the Best Foreign-language Film category

Roman Bondarchuk’s Ukrainian Sheriffs [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has been chosen to represent Ukraine in the race for the upcoming Oscar for Best Foreign-language Film. Bondarchuk has won several awards from both national and international festivals, and has directed short films Mannequins (2001), Mykola and the German (2005), Taxi Driver (2005), Polina (2011), Romani Dream (2012) and Café Voyage (2013). He was also a co-director for Euromaidan Rough Cut (2014), a documentary about the events on Maidan Square.

His first feature-length documentary, Ukrainian Sheriffs, which explores a typical Ukrainian village, won an award at IDFA 2015, the largest European documentary film festival, and will represent now Ukraine at the Oscars race.

In Ukrainian Sheriffs, Viktor and Volodya must try to seize control and ensure the safety of the remote Ukrainian village of Stara Zburyevka, as the town has no official police force. On their journey they encounter drunks, neighbourly disputes, minor theft and domestic abuse…Then, all of a sudden, the radio and TV start reporting the news of the tensions surrounding the Crimea scenario and the citizens’ fear of the conflict potentially happening again. 

The film is a co-production between Ukraine (SOUTH), Latvia (VFS Films) and Germany (Taskovski Films) and is sold internationally by Taskovski Films. Of the nine Ukrainian submissions for the Academy Awards, none have been nominated.