Invisible Battalion (dir. Alina Gorlova, Svitlana Lishchinska, Iryna Tsilyk, 2017, 89 mins).

Women don’t fight on the frontline? Think again. Invisible Battalion shows the courage and sacrifices of 6 Ukrainian women soldiers after Russia’s 2014 invasion of the Donbas. Directed by 3 of Ukraine’s leading women documentarians, the film puts combat into a female perspective.

When the war began in 2014, Ukrainian legislation did not cover women combatants. As a result, their access to armed forces benefits, awards, care, and career opportunities were all limited. The Invisible Battalion initiative started out and continues as an advocacy campaign to highlight and resolve these problems. Each story in the film highlights a different aspect of war, including trench warfare, evacuating the wounded, gender discrimination on the frontline, and rehabilitation after coming back from the front.

Svitlana Lishchinskaya, filmmaker, was born in Mariupol in 1970. Svіtlana has been working in television for over 20 years, and in 2014 she started making films. Participation in the anthology "Invisible Battalion" is her debut as a documentary filmmaker, since which she has made a number of documentary feature films. Since the start of the Russian invasion, Svetlana has been living and working in Kyiv, where she is making a film about her family and the self-identification of Russian-speaking Ukrainians.

Yulia Matvyenko, call sign "Belka". Before the events of the Revolution of Dignity, Yulia was a commodity expert and raised two teenagers. When the war started, she joined the volunteers. Within a year Yulia realized that she could no longer be in Zaporizhzhia while her friends were fighting, and went to serve as a sniper. Yulia Matvienko spent more than four and a half years in the war zone. In the war, she had to fight on two fronts: against the enemy and to be treated as an equal, as a soldier.

Darya Zubenko, 30 years old. Originally from Chernihiv. Graduated from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. She taught sociology, but was also a street musician and a participant in fire shows. After the start of the war, Darya left her postgraduate studies at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and went to rescue soldiers on the front line as a paramedic. Now Daria is defending Ukraine at the frontline.

Q&A by Zoom with Svitalana Lishchinska, Yulia Matvyenko, and Darya Zubenko.

Charity Donations

One of King's Films for Ukraine’s key aims is to collect funds for charities. Donations for this event will go to Ukrainian Women Veteran Movement (UWVM).

UWVM is an organisation for female veterans, created to increase their opportunities for self-realization in society. It focuses on advocacy and protection of the rights of women veterans and active military personnel, and the promotion of equal rights and opportunities through lawmaking and advocacy for a professional and prestigious security sector.

For further information, see: https://www.uwvm.org.ua/?page_id=3031⟨=en

Suggested Minimum Donation: £5

Donations to UKRAINIAN WOMEN VETERAN MOVEMENT. Available to book on Eventbrite.

Supported by King's Arts and Humanities Faculty