Kherson journalist releases a documentary she filmed under occupation
Kherson-based journalist Angela Slobodyan, who survived over four months under occupation and another month in Russian captivity, released the documentary "Invasion", the videos for which she filmed while living in occupation. This is the first video, which focuses on the story of a family from Kherson oblast, reports Kavun.city.
"Invasion" is a documentary that is available for free on Angela Slobodyan's YouTube channel "Okolo TV". The film tells the story of a Kherson oblast family which suffered a heavy loss in the first days of the Russian occupation. The widow of a local man called Leonid and her daughter share their feelings and memories. Leonid died in 2022, in the first days of the Russian invasion of Kherson oblast.
Among other locations, Angela did her filming in a hospital where she talked to a wounded man. In order to talk to him, she changed into a white coat and a mask, entering the hospital in disguise. It was a huge risk, but it paid off: Angela recorded the testimony that formed the basis of the film.
The documentary is only half an hour long.
"I tried my hand at being a documentarist," writes Angela Slobodyan on Facebook. "Everything was new to me. From the script plan, which I reworked three times, to 'compiling characters' in a problematic draft. What didn't work out? To develop a throughline from my chronicles and my own story and to draw it through the characters. I understand that for now my emotions will prevent me from approaching this with a creator's 'cool head'. It's just not time yet and it hurts too much."
The fact that Angela filmed everything that happened under occupation and saved this content allowed her to testify at the People's Tribunal in The Hague. In February 2023, she spoke in court for almost two hours about the crimes and violations of journalists' rights committed by Russians in Kherson.
As IMI reported, in the fall of 2022, former TRC "Ukraina" journalist Angela Slobodyan told her story of being a captive in occupied Kherson. She spent about a month in a Kherson detention center which the Russians turned into a torture camp. She spoke about the invaders abusing their captives and torturing Ukrainian POWs.
A symbolic tribunal against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage for the crime of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed since February 24, 2022, will take place in The Hague starting February 20.
On January 19, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of the action to create an international tribunal to bring to justice all those guilty of the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which was committed under the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation and its allies.
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