Russian director Anastasia Trofimova's film crew spent seven months in eastern Ukraine with a battalion of the Russian Army to produce the movie "Russians at War." The film has been heavily criticizes for paining a distorted picture of what is happening in Ukraine by portraying Russian soldiers as sufferers and victims.

"It's actually a very simplistic film, and we were shown it. There is a scandal because it is extremely one-sided. If only there had been some shots of the war and of Bucha. It's not possible and it's not believable to not know at all what has happened and what is actually being done there (by Russia in Ukraine  – ed.)," said Tiina Lokk, director of the Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).

Filipp Kruusvall, the organizer of Docpoint Tallinn, said they would not include the film in their program under the current circumstances. "My personal opinion is that Russian soldiers are still mass murderers and at the moment, it is too early to start trying to understand them," said Kruusvall.

"First of all, there must be a trial. Once they have been convicted and the victims have been compensated, then we can move on to the next phase and start to decipher what happened," he added.

In addition to the movie itself, Trofimova has also been criticized for saying that she saw no signs of war crimes during the entire time she spent on the front line. Kruusvall pointed out that, although promotion of "Russians at War" at various film festivals might give the impression that this was Trofimova's debut movie, she is in fact already an experienced filmmaker.

"She has made eleven TV documentaries with the Russian propaganda channel Russia Today, which have been broadcast on Russia Today. So she is a very experienced filmmaker, some would say even an experienced propagandist, who now lives in Canada," Kruusvall explained.

Despite considerable protests from Ukrainian filmmakers, "Russians at War" will also be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Canada on Tuesday. Kruusvall suggested one of the reasons why there is so much interest in the West for movies like this is the information vacuum regarding what is happening in Russia.

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