Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

The film follows the Maidan protests in Kyiv from the student rally of 21 November 2013 to the bloody close of 23 February 2014. Evgeny Afineevsky put twenty eight camera operators on the square, which is why no single vantage point dominates. The same night is seen from in front of the barricade and from behind it. More than a hundred people died, and the film delivers that through faces you have come to know rather than through numbers: a thirteen year old boy, a monk, a volunteer doctor, a taxi driver. Netflix released it on 9 October 2015. It was nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary feature and won the audience award for documentary at Toronto. It takes a side and never pretends otherwise. Divisions among the protesters and the presence of far right groups on the square are brushed past. Strong as a record, thin as analysis. Who it is for: viewers who want the street level experience. Who it is not for: anyone looking for balanced political reading.