Sean Penn’s doc on the war in Ukraine to premiere in Berlinale Special

“Superpower,” a documentary by Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman that follows the events happening in Ukraine and the truth about Russia’s invasion of the country, will be premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in its Berlinale Special section.

“Among the films premiering this year at the festival, there is one in particular that witnesses the shock we all felt. More than a documentary, Superpower is the chronicle of a film project that reality forced to change into something less controllable but more meaningful. In a festival that will take place one year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is important to show the film that Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman made under such difficult conditions. Like their colleagues who risked their lives in order to testify to the cruelty of the war, they prove once more that art can inspire action worldwide,” the Berlinale website bills the documentary.

Penn, 63, an American actor, film director and double Oscar winner, came to Kyiv to shoot the movie before Russia began the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and some military commanders and politicians. He was still in Kyiv when the first Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian capital on the early morning of Feb. 24, so he decided to stay for a while and continue shooting.

Later, he came back to Ukraine at least three times more – to visit just-liberated Bucha and Irpin and give one of his Oscar statuettes to Zelensky as a symbol of his faith in Ukraine’s victory and “to feel better and strong enough for the struggle.” The Ukrainian president decorated the film director with a third-class Order of Merit.