Sean Penn's Ukraine documentary to premiere at Berlin Film Festival
'Superpower', Sean Penn's documentary about the ongoing war in Ukraine, will air at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
Sean Penn's documentary about the war in Ukraine will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
The Oscar-winning actor filmed the upcoming documentary in Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Carlo Chatrian, the artistic director of the festival, said: "This is a documentary film done under very difficult circumstances, but it is also a film that tells the role of art and artists in difficult times."
The new documentary is called 'Superpower' and Sean, 62, has co-directed the project alongside Aaron Kaufman.
The film will feature footage of Sean talking to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president. The Hollywood star is also filmed in Kyiv, the capital city, at the start of the invasion.
Meanwhile, in 2022, Sean confessed to being startled by what he witnessed on the border between Poland and Ukraine.
In a TV interview, the actor shared his experience of the refugee crisis that was taking place in eastern Europe, following Russia's invasion.
He said at the time: "We had the luxury of being able to abandon a rented vehicle on the side of the road. This was a startling thing to me; it was mostly women and children, some in groups and some just a mother and her child, in almost all of those cars.
"In some cases, the father was dropping them off and returning, because we know that from 18 to 60, men are not to leave, they're to stay in the resistance against Russia."
Sean was also astonished by the scale of the refugee crisis.
He recalled: "I didn't see any luggage. It was as though they wanted to believe they're going to be able to come back, and there was an immediacy to leave because of the incredible amount of people leaving and how long it takes to get out of the country now. So, the car is pretty much - aside from those who have family or friends that could help on the other side - all they have.
"So, in the several miles that we walked after abandoning our car, I didn't see one of those cars move a car length because that line was so slow. And then you get there and you see all those who have walked as well in that crowd."
