- May 31, 2026
- 7:08 pm
- Israel
The film tells the stories of six Ukrainian women from Donbas, Kherson, and Kyiv regions who have experienced sexual violence and torture since 2014 during the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
In Tel Aviv, DOCAVIV — one of the main documentary film festivals in Israel is taking place. In 2026, it runs from May 28 to June 6 and gathers over a hundred Israeli and international documentary films, meetings with authors, special screenings, and professional events.
Among the important Ukrainian highlights of the festival program is the Ukrainian-Polish documentary film “Traces” directed by Alisa Kovalenko and co-directed by Marysia Nikitiuk.
The screening of the film is scheduled for June 4 at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. For the Ukrainian community in Israel, repatriates from Ukraine, Israeli viewers, and everyone following the topic of the Russian war against Ukraine, this is not just a cultural event. It is a rare opportunity to see on the big screen a film-testimony about crimes that often remain outside the usual news feed.
DOCAVIV: What is this festival and why is it important
DOCAVIV is the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival. It is one of Israel’s key platforms for documentary cinema, where film becomes not only art but also a way to talk about war, memory, trauma, human rights, politics, society, and personal stories that cannot be retold in the dry language of reports.
In 2026, the 28th DOCAVIV festival takes place. Its program includes Israeli and foreign documentary films, international and national competitions, short films, student works, thematic sections, meetings with directors, and events for the film industry.
The main venue of the festival is the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Screenings and events also take place at other cultural venues in the city, including the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and other locations.
For Israel, DOCAVIV has long become more than just a film program. It is a space for public conversation. Documentary cinema here often works as a testimony of the time: it captures what has not yet become history but already requires attention, understanding, and moral response.
Who organizes DOCAVIV
The festival is held by the DOCAVIV Association — a non-profit cultural organization that promotes documentary cinema in Israel not only during the festival but throughout the year.
The association organizes screenings, educational initiatives, regional projects, and programs related to the development of documentary cinema as a socially important genre.
The DOCAVIV 2026 team includes:
- Chairman — Rami Shalmor
- General Director — Limor Aharonovich
- Artistic Director — Michal Weitz
- Chief Producer — Gal Hanochi
- Program Director — Anat Netel
The festival gathers directors, producers, documentary film heroes, critics, viewers, journalists, and representatives of the film industry. In this context, Ukrainian participation is especially important: the Russian war against Ukraine remains not only a military and political topic but also a topic of documentary testimony.
“Traces”: A film about six Ukrainian women, trauma, and resistance
The film “Traces” is a Ukrainian-Polish documentary film of 2026. It was created by director Alisa Kovalenko in collaboration with co-director Marysia Nikitiuk.
The film tells the stories of six Ukrainian women from Donbas, Kherson, and Kyiv regions who have experienced sexual violence and torture since 2014 during the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
This is a heavy and delicate topic. But “Traces” is not built only on the horror of what was experienced. The film talks about what happens after the violence: about silence, pain, fear, the attempt to speak again, support for other victims, the search for justice, and the dignity that could not be destroyed.
At the center of the film is Iryna Dovhan, a former captive, human rights activist, and head of SEMA Ukraine. Through her story, the authors show how personal trauma can become public testimony, and testimony can become part of the struggle for truth.
SEMA Ukraine is a Ukrainian community of women who have survived sexual and gender-based violence related to the war. Therefore, the film is important not only as a cinematic work but also as a document of resistance, mutual support, and an attempt to give a voice to those whom the criminals wanted to silence.
Who is behind the film
The director and screenwriter of the film is Alisa Kovalenko. She also served as the cinematographer. The co-director is Marysia Nikitiuk.
The producers of the film are Olga Bregman and Natalia Libet. The production was carried out in co-production between Ukraine and Poland by the companies 2Brave Productions and Message Film. The music was composed by Polish composer Wojciech Frycz. Editing was done by Nikon Romanchenko and Polish editor Milenia Fidler.
The film presents the stories of six women from different regions of Ukraine — Donbas, Kherson, and Kyiv regions — who have experienced sexual violence and torture since 2014:
Iryna Dovhan — a former economist, beauty salon owner, who after captivity in 2014 became a human rights activist and head of the organization SEMA Ukraine.
Olga Chernyak — a civil servant of the district administration.
Tatyana Vasylenko and Galina Tishchenko — entrepreneurs.
Nina — a farmer.
Lyudmila Mefodievna Mimrikova — a former teacher of Ukrainian language and literature.
Their biographies are different. Among them are a former economist and beauty salon owner, a civil servant, entrepreneurs, a farmer, a former teacher of Ukrainian language and literature.
But the film unites them not by status or profession. It unites them through the experience of violence, trauma, and the struggle for the right to be heard.
International recognition
The world premiere of the film “Traces” took place on February 16, 2026, at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama Dokumente program.
Later, the film received the Panorama Audience Award in the documentary category. For Ukrainian documentary cinema, this became an important international recognition.
The peculiarity of this award is that it is determined by the audience. That is, the film was heard not only by experts and critics but also by viewers who saw in it not a private Ukrainian story but a universal testimony of violence, war, dignity, and responsibility.
In 2026, the film also received a special mention at Millennium Docs Against Gravity. This enhanced its international status as one of the important documentary works about the Russian war against Ukraine and its human consequences.
Why the screening in Tel Aviv is important for Israel
For the Israeli audience, the screening of “Traces” has special significance. Israeli society understands well that testimonies of violence, captivity, humiliation, torture, and crimes against civilians cannot remain only the internal affair of one country.
Such stories require documentation. They require attention. And they require international solidarity — not declarative, but human, cultural, and social.
In Israel, the topic of memory, trauma, war, hostages, violence, and human dignity has special sensitivity. Therefore, the Ukrainian film at DOCAVIV sounds here not as a distant story from another country but as part of a larger conversation about what happens to society when crimes become a tool of war.
It is important to emphasize: “Traces” should not be perceived as an attempt to compare tragedies or compete in pain. Its significance lies elsewhere. The film invites you to see the Ukrainian experience through human destinies and understand why documenting Russian crimes is important not only for Ukraine.
For the Israeli viewer, it is also an opportunity to hear the voices of Ukrainian women directly — not through political statements, not through diplomatic formulas, and not through military statistics.
NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers such events as part of a broader conversation about the ties between Ukraine and Israel, the role of culture in understanding war, and why the testimonies of victims of war crimes should be heard beyond the country where these crimes were committed.
Ukrainian community in Israel and the voice of testimony
In Israel live repatriates from Ukraine, Ukrainians who permanently reside in the country, families with Ukrainian roots, volunteers, activists, and people helping Ukraine after the full-scale invasion of Russia in 2022.
For this audience, the screening of “Traces” is not just a festival event. It is a moment when Ukrainian pain and Ukrainian testimony enter the Israeli cultural space.
The film helps to take the topic of Russian crimes beyond the news. It shows not only the fact of violence but also how women continue to live, speak, support others, and demand justice.
This is the power of documentary cinema. It does not replace a court, investigation, or political decision. But it preserves human faces where official documents often leave only formulations.
When and where to watch
The screening of the film “Traces” at DOCAVIV will take place:
June 4, 2026
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv Cinematheque
Hall 2
Time: 14:15
Film page and tickets:
https://www.docaviv.co.il/films/traces/
Viewers should be aware that the film raises a heavy and traumatic topic of sexual violence and torture during the war. It is a work that requires attentive, delicate, and respectful viewing.
What is SEMA Ukraine
SEMA Ukraine is a Ukrainian public organization and community of women who have survived sexual and gender-based violence related to the war of Russia against Ukraine. On its official website, the organization writes that it unites Ukrainian women who have suffered from such violence as a result of Russia’s armed aggression and take an active civic position.
SEMA Ukraine has existed since 2019 as part of the international network SEMA Network, founded by the international organization Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation. Denis Mukwege is a Congolese gynecologist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate known for his work with women who have survived sexual violence in conflict conditions.
On February 1, 2023, the public organization “Sema Ukraine” was officially registered. Its goal is to raise public awareness about the causes and consequences of sexual violence during armed conflict, fight against impunity, and seek accountability for war criminals.
The organization helps affected women not to remain alone with trauma: it creates a safe platform for communication, provides psychological support, helps establish contacts with specialized medical, legal, and human rights organizations. SEMA Ukraine also documents evidence of occupiers’ crimes and advocates at the national and international levels.
In December 2024, organizations uniting victims of sexual violence related to the conflict launched an initiative to include the Russian Federation in the annex to the annual report of the UN Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence. This refers to the list of parties reasonably suspected of committing rape or other forms of sexual violence in conflict situations.
In the context of the film “Traces”, SEMA Ukraine is important because one of the central heroines of the film is Iryna Dovhan, a former captive, human rights activist, and head of this organization. Through her story, the film shows not only trauma but also the path to public testimony, mutual support, and the struggle for justice.
Reference
Film: “Traces”
Year: 2026
Countries: Ukraine, Poland
Genre: Documentary film, docudrama
Director: Alisa Kovalenko
Co-director: Marysia Nikitiuk
Producers: Olga Bregman, Natalia Libet
Companies: 2Brave Productions, Message Film
Language: Ukrainian
Theme: Sexual violence and torture during the Russian aggression against Ukraine
Heroines: Iryna Dovhan, Olga Chernyak, Tatyana Vasylenko, Galina Tishchenko, Nina, Lyudmila Mimrikova
Festival: DOCAVIV 2026
Festival dates: May 28 — June 6, 2026
City: Tel Aviv
Film screening: June 4, Tel Aviv Cinematheque
The film “Traces” is important not only because it is shown at an international festival. It is important because it returns to the viewer the understanding that behind the words “war crimes” are specific people, specific bodies, specific memory, and a specific struggle for the right to truth.
For Tel Aviv, this screening becomes not just a meeting with Ukrainian documentary cinema. It is a meeting with the voices of women who survived Russian violence and did not allow this violence to be the last word in their story.
Film page and tickets:
https://www.docaviv.co.il/films/traces/
