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About A Rising Fury Documentary

  

 A RISING FURY chronicles nearly a decade in the lives of Pavlo and Svitlana, two passionate Ukrainian idealists. They were filmed from Kyiv’s Revolution of Dignity in 2013 through the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. What begins as a hopeful protest evolves into an unrelenting fight for survival as their country is plunged into war. Against the backdrop of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and invasion of Donbas in 2014, this young couple navigates the harrowing realities of war. After losing his family home in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Pavlo joins the Ukrainian military, engaging in life-or-death battles—even against former friends. One such betrayal by a close friend reveals a hidden secret behind Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—one that was prepared as far back as 2007.

This gripping documentary sheds light on the events that brought us to this moment in history and captures the resilience of the human spirit, offering an intimate, unflinching portrait of love in the face of unthinkable adversity. 

  

A Rising Fury premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and earned multiple accolades, including the Supreme Jury Award and Best International Director Award at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. The film has been showcased at major international festivals across four continents and garnered nominations for the Bronze Horse Award at the Stockholm International Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Warsaw International Film Festival, and the Golden Duke Award at the Odessa International Film Festival, among others. Described by Film Threat Magazine as "one of the best films of the year" and rated 10/10 by film critic Bobby LePire, A Rising Fury has received widespread critical acclaim.



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A RISING FURY - OFFICIAL TRAILER 2025

A RISING FURY Benefit screening for Ukraine at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres

Benefit Screening- TCL Chinese Theatres 6 Feb 22nd 2024.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Oct 27th 2023 - Opening night of A Rising Fury Limited Theatrical Released in New York City

News

A RISING FURY documentary Q&A with Timothy Snyder & Lesya Kalynska

 A RISING FURY documentary New York Theatrical Release. Post screening Q&A with Timothy Snyder & Lesya Kalynska. Moderator - Natalie Pavlenko, the president of Ukrainian National Womens League of America. November, 2023.  

Please Support

Please Support

Over the course of filming nearly 10 years in Ukraine our team followed many people that were not featured in our featured documentary "A Rising Fury". We captured around 500 hours of filmed material and would like to show these incredible stories in a 4-part docu series. With your help we can make it happen! 

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A Rising Fury Documentary

Film Festivals

Film Festivals

Film Festivals

 Tribeca Film Festival (World Premiere in June 2022 

Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater and virtual.


 Buffalo International Film Festival (First Award the film received in October 2022)

Winner ~ The Boundary Breaker Award

"A Rising Fury" was a Closing night gala film


Warsaw International Film Festival, 2022

Best Documentary Feature Nominee

Documentary Competition


Stockholm Int Film Festival, 2022

Bronze Horse Award Nominee

In category of Best feature Documentary


Cleveland International Film Festival 2023

Nominated Greg Gund Standing Up Award


Melbourne Documentary FF, 2023  

Winner ~ Best International Documentary

Winner ~ Best Director

Winner ~ Supreme Jury Award

Film Reviews

Film Festivals

Film Festivals

 Film Threat 

Bobby LePire - “A Rising Fury is one of the best films of the year. A Master Class in documentary filmmaking...  a perfect film.” 5 stars

https://filmthreat.com/reviews/a-rising-fury/ 


FilmInk

Reuben Stojanovic-Rowe - "A wake up call!... a powerful statement as to what the Ukrainians

are fighting for” 4.5 stars

https://www.filmink.com.au/reviews/a-rising-fury/


Filmmaker Magazine

- Lauren Wissot - "breathtakingly cinematic explainer of current events - the cinematography is so harrowing and astonishingly intimate."

https://filmmakermagazine.com/114996-interview-lesya-kalynska-tribeca- a-rising-fury-ukraine/#.YuGem-zMIck 


Modern Times Review

- Nick Holdsworth - “A Rising Fury is a valuable starting point for anyone wishing to      

understand more about the conflict in Ukraine.”

https://www.moderntimes.review/the-road-to-war/


Cinema Sentries 

- David Wangburg - " Intense and Moving - A Rising Fury is a passion project for both

Kalynska and Batytski, and one that is almost perfectly executed."

https://cinemasentries.com/tribeca-2022-review-a-rising-fury/


The independent Critic 

- Richard Propes -  “a near masterpiece of cinéma vérité, a doc that practically defines what it means to be an indie doc”

https://theindependentcritic.com/a_rising_fury


Industry News

Film Festivals

Industry News

Long list for the Oscars 

https://www.thewrap.com/documentaries-oscar-race-list-2023/?fbclid=IwAR3TKbIYoJvtdEjD_sto-27bWbjWfRyU6lH7fmkcIfckvBU3oI5YeJEjvw0


The Gotham Alumni at Tribeca Film Festival

https://thegotham.org/resources/gotham-alumni-at-the-2022-tribeca-festival/


Interview with director Lesya Kalynska in Kino Kultura

http://www.kinokultura.com/2023/81UA_INT_kalynska.shtml


Interview with Film Obsessive

https://filmobsessive.com/film/new-releases/a-rising-fury-conveys-the-passion-and-purpose-of-the-ukrainian-people/


NYWIFT at Tribeca

https://www.nywift.org/event/nywift-at-2022-tribeca-film-festival/


Podcast Interview with director Lesya Kalynska and Producer 

TJ Collins on Cinescope

https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/01-06-2023-with-director-and-producer-lesya/id603585593?i=1000592932645


Interview with director Lesya Kalynska in Filmmaker Magazine

https://filmmakermagazine.com/114996-interview-lesya-kalynska-tribeca-a-rising-fury-ukraine/




Film Credits and Supporters

   

Directed by: 

Lesya Kalynska & Ruslan Batytskyi

Written by: Lesya Kalynska

Co-written by: TJ Collins
 

Produced by: 

Lesya Kalynska

TJ Collins

Ruslan Batytskyi

Jonathan Borge Lie

  

Director of Photography: Ruslan Batytskyi


Original score by: 

Emiliano Mazzenga


Edited by: 

Araby Kelley

Lesya Kalynska

Ruslan Batytskyi


Cinematographers:
Anton Fursa, Taras Tomenko, Lesko Kromplitz, 

Anton Yaremchuk, Ivan Fomichenko, Lesya Kalynska,

Anna Borysova, Yuri Dunay, 

Taras Tkachenko, Anastasia Lysenko 

Additional video recording: Pavlo Pavliv and Mykola Petkovych


Photographers: Sergey Mikhalchuk and Lesko Kromplitz


Music by:

Maryana Sadovska, Roman Turovsky,

Svyatoslav Vakharchuk (Ocean of Elza)

Ivan Lenyo, Volodymyr Sherstiuk (Kozak System)

Andriy Nidzelskyi, Anton Baibakov, 

Petro Scazkiv, Greg Haines, 

Chris Zabriskie, Mykola Leontovych 


 Sound Recording:
Andriy Nidzelskiy, Mykhailo Zakutskyi, Natasha Avramenko


 Sound Design and Mix: Joe Sears and Andriy Nidzelskiy
 

 Colorist: Sanjit Majumdar
Title and graphic design: Jesse Kerman
 

 Impact Producers:

 TJ Collins & Lesya Kalynska


 Impact co-producers: 

 Dianna Derhak – Creator & Producer of “Sunflowers of Ukraine” campaign

 Alexandra Zavadivska


 Consultants:
 Carol Dysinger, John Tintori, Etienne Kallos, 

 Shlomo Godder, Josh Green, Boris Frumin, Karin Hayes

 Website and graphic design: Natasha Mikhalchuk

 Assistant Editor: Olga Voytenko



 Sponsors and Supporters

 European organizations and funds supporting the project include:

 IDFA Bertha Fund, Netherlands
 Sorfond, The Norwegian South Film Fund, Norway

 The Fritt Ord Foundation, Norway

 Bertha Doc Society Journalism Fund, UK
 Finport Technologies, Ukraine 


The US organizations and funds supporting the project include:

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Fund
Murray State University
Still Point Foundation
Shevchenko Scientific Society
Razom for Ukraine
UCCA: Ukrainian Congress Committee of America
UNWLA: Ukrainian National Women's League of America

 UABPA: Ukrainian American Business &Professional Association  

 Diannaderhak.com


 Our special gratitude:

 Michael and Nadia Kalinski,
Leonard and Helena Mazur,
Dianna Derhak, 

 Alexandra & Anya Zawadiwsky


  

Additional support in US by:


 New York University
The Gotham Film and Media Institute
Women Make Movies

 New York University
The Gotham Film and Media Institute
Women Make Movies

 The Ukrainian Museum in New York City
Ukrainian Film Club at Columbia University

 Consulate General of Ukraine in New York

 Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco 

 Consulate General of Ukraine in Chicago

 UNA, Plast, CYM

 Leleka Foundation / БФ Лелека-Україна

 UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

 New Use Energy

 Brighter Ukraine Foundation (BUF)

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