During the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, film director Oleh Sentsov joined the Ukrainian Defense Forces. As an officer of the Ukrainian army, he took part in a series of intense battles, and during one of them, his BMP was destroyed by Russian artillery. After that, he remained in nearby trenches and attempted to organize the evacuation of part of his unit via radio. Throughout this time, his men were under constant attack and eventually ran out of ammunition, making their evacuation even more urgent. This military event, which took place on the front-line positions of the Ukrainian-Russian front, was given the code name Real. That is the name of the film.
Ukraine, Croatia 2024, '90
DIRECTOR: Oleh Sentsov
SCENARIO: Oleh Sentsov
CAMERA: Oleh Sentsov
MONTAGE: Oleh Sentsov
PRODUCERS: Denis Ivanov, Boris T. Matić, Lana Matić, Mike Downey
PRODUCTION: Arthouse Traffic Kijev, Propeler Film, Downey inc.
FESTIVALS & AWARDS:
Karlovy Vary IFF (2024)
Stockholm FF (2024)
Warsaw FF (2024)
DocPoint (2024)
Oleh Sentsov
Oleh Sentsov (born July 14, 1976) is a Ukrainian filmmaker, writer, activist, and soldier from Crimea. He directed the films Gamer (2011), Numbers (2019), and Rhino (2021).
After Russia annexed Crimea, he was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges, which were widely condemned as false. He was released in a prisoner swap in 2019.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Sentsov has been fighting in the Ukrainian army. In 2024, he released Real, a documentary filmed during a battle in the early days of the war.