Ukrainian filmmaker and veteran Alice Kovalenko wins top prize at Kosovo film festival with documentary on war
Ukrainian veteran and director Alice Kovalenko has achieved a significant milestone by winning the main award at the prestigious DokuFest international film festival held in Prizren, Kosovo.
Her documentary titled “My Dear Theo,” also known as “With Love from the Front,” secured the top prize in the Human Rights Dox category, marking a compelling recognition of her personal story and the Ukrainian wartime experience.
Kovalenko shared her triumph on her Facebook page, expressing gratitude to the festival jury and organizers for the acknowledgment.
The festival venue, the historic city of Prizren, renowned for its vibrant cultural scene and its sobering memories of a conflict that erupted 25 years ago, provided a poignant backdrop for her cinematic narrative.
During her stay, she engaged with local residents, listening to their stories of war and drawing parallels with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The words of young people, who preserve their ancestors’ accounts of past wars, deeply moved her.
Her latest film aims to serve as a ‘bridge of memory’ connecting generations: those fighting at the front and their families, who worry about their fates.
The film was made while Kovalenko served with a stormtrooper unit of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, spending four months on the Kyiv and Kharkiv fronts.
During this period, she documented soldier life and wrote letters to her son Theo, should she fall in battle.
These letters form the core of the film’s title, emphasizing personal sacrifice amidst war’s chaos.
Known for previous works such as “Alice in the Land of War” (2015) and “Home Games” (2018), which screened at over 100 festivals worldwide and earned numerous awards, Kovalenko continues to make impactful cinema.
Her recent documentary “We Will Not Fade Away” (2023) was named Ukraine’s best documentary of the year by the Ukrainian Film Academy, earning 20 international awards and a nomination for the European Film Awards.
In 2024, she was honored with the prestigious Chicken & Egg Award.
Besides her success, DokuFest — Kosovo’s largest film festival established in 2002 in Prizren — is a vital platform for documentary and short films.
Since 2019, it has served as a BAFTA qualifying festival, and since 2022, as a selection platform for the European Film Academy.
This year’s festival also showcased two other Ukrainian films: director Oleksiy Radynsky’s “Special Operation,” crafted from footage captured by surveillance cameras during the Chernobyl zone occupation in February 2022, and “In Retrospect,” by Mila Zhluktenko and Daniel Asadi Faizi, exploring the connection between past and present through stories of migrants and the tragic events at Munich in 2016.
Additionally, popular Ukrainian blogger and traveler Anton Ptushkin released a documentary titled “Antarctica,” documenting the experiences of the 30th Ukrainian Antarctic expedition at the VERNADSKY station.
The film offers viewers a rare glimpse into the challenging realities of life on the most remote continent, demonstrating his ambitious approach to storytelling.