The film “Cuba & Alaska” directed by Yegor Troyanovsky won the Best Documentary Film award at the Rome International Film Festival (Festa del Cinema di Roma), as reported by the Ministry of Culture.
“This is a historic award. In 2025, for the first time in its twenty-year history, the festival introduced a separate prize for documentary films — and it was the Ukrainian film that became its first laureate,” the ministry noted.
The Ukrainian production was recognized as the best among films from the Progressive Cinema Competition and Special Screenings sections.
The Jury’s Statement: "…death and resilience in the midst of war. It is a work that places us on the frontline of our European war, a war fought relentlessly by ordinary people like us, for all of us, against the barbaric Russia that continues to spread death and destruction across our continent. At the heart of the film are two young Ukrainian women who every day live just a moment away from death, as they do even now while we sit here in safety. Through their extraordinary vitality and courage, they remind us never to abandon our creativity and our hope for the future, but to live our fragile lives to the fullest. The first documentary award of the Rome Film Festival goes to 'Cuba and Alaska' by Yegor Troyanovsky."
Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Minister of Culture Tetiana Berezhna stressed that every international screening of a Ukrainian film amplifies Ukraine’s voice abroad, giving the world a chance to hear the truth about Russia’s war and about the strength and resilience of Ukrainians.
“The victory of ‘Cuba & Alaska’ in Rome is proof of the professionalism, quality, and depth of Ukrainian cinema,” Berezhna emphasized.
“Cuba & Alaska” is a feature-length documentary co-produced by Ukraine, France, and Belgium.
The film tells the story of two paramedics and close friends, Yuliia Sydorova (“Cuba”) and Oleksandra Lysytska (“Alaska”), who left their civilian lives to save others on the frontlines.
It portrays their daily service, the trials of war, and their determination to preserve humanity under extreme conditions.
