{{Short description|2015 Ukrainian documentary film by Roman Bondarchuk}}{{good article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = Ukrainian Sheriffs | image = Ukrainian Sheriffs.jpg | caption = | director = {{ill|Roman Bondarchuk|uk| Бондарчук Роман Леонідович}} | producer = {{ubl | {{ill| Daryna Averchenko|uk| Аверченко Дарина Василівна}} | Uldis Sekulis}} | writer = Roman Bondarchuk | music = {{ interlanguage link | Anton Baibakov|uk| Байбаков Антон Георгійович}} | cinematography = | editing = {{ubl|Roman Bondarchuk | {{ill|Katerina Gornostay|uk| Горностай Катерина Павлівна}} |Borys Peter}} | distributor = | released = {{Film date |2015|11|20|IDFA|2016|03|26|DocuDays UA| df=yes}} | runtime = 88 minutes | country = {{unbulleted list | Ukraine | Latvia | Germany}} | language = {{ubl | Ukrainian | Russian}} }}
'''''Ukrainian Sheriffs''''' ({{langx|uk|«Українські шерифи»|Ukrainski sheryfy}}) is a 2015 Ukrainian documentary film directed by {{interlanguage link | Roman Bondarchuk|uk| Бондарчук Роман Леонідович}}. The film begins as a portrait of a small town which tries to meet its own policing needs but shifts when the Russo-Ukrainian War begins, depicting the war's effects in microcosm. Bondarchuk's first feature-length film, it was workshopped and developed at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFAcademy<ref name = "DFF" /> and the Dok.incubator program.<ref name = "Incubator2015" />
The film won the IDFA Special Jury Award and the Docs Against Gravity Mayor of Gdynia Award,<ref name = "Gdynia" /> and was chosen by the Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers as the best domestic non-fiction film of 2016.<ref name="NSU" /> It ranked 56th on the Ukraine film archives' list of the best films of Ukrainian cinema,<ref name = "Dovzhenko-100" /> and was Ukraine's official selection for foreign-language film at the US 89th Academy Awards.<ref name="hwr1" />
== Context ==
thumb|right|alt=a lake bordered by sedges and small trees.|{{interlanguage link |Zburivskyi Kut|uk| Збур'ївський Кут }}, a shallow delta lake on which the village is located {{interlanguage link |Stara Zburyivka|uk| Стара Збур'ївка }} is a Ukrainian agricultural village in the hinterland of Kherson Oblast. It is located about {{convert|70|km}} north of Crimea, at the south-eastern corner of the Dnieper–Bug estuary of the Black Sea, surrounded by wetlands and protected forests. In relative isolation, the villagers are used to doing things for themselves without government assistance.<ref name="ARD" /><ref name = "YakutenkoReview" /> During filming, the village had a population of approximately 1800<ref name = "Young2015" /> with various ethnic groups. It once had a Zaporozhian Cossack settlement.<ref name = "Trimbach2016" /><ref name = "Oliynyk2015" /> The village has a mix of small, well-kept farmhouses and barns,<ref name = "Trimbach2016" /> and dilapidated shacks with overgrown and neglected yards.<ref name = "Young2015" />
Until 2015, Ukraine had a single, nation-wide law-enforcement organization called the militsiya. The organization was founded during the Soviet era and was directly involved in Soviet political repressions throughout Ukraine. The system changed little following independence, and it continued to use Soviet-era procedures written in Moscow, with a reputation as the largest, most bureaucratic, and most corrupt police force in Europe. Bribes were required to gain employment or promotion and for many police interactions<!-- from traffic stops to reports for insurance claims-->, and theft of property from crime scenes was common.<ref name="Peacock2016" /> The militsiya generally did not involve itself with outlying villages.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" />
The militsiya made a rare visit to Stara Zburivka during a land dispute{{efn|Eugenia Oliynyk of Radio Liberty reported that Marunyak's arrest by the militsiya came after he was trying to prevent land theft in the village.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015"/> There are no further details in available sources.}} and arrested village council chairman (mayor) Viktor Marunyak without evidence. The village residents rallied to defend him and secure his release. To prevent further conflicts with the militsiya and attend to the community's need for policing, Marunyak conceived the idea of village sheriffs. Residents Victor Kryvoborodko and Volodya Rudkovsky were elected by their fellow villagers{{efn|Kryvoborodko and Rudkovsky were initially appointed as sheriffs by mayor Marunyak,<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018"/><ref name = Božanic /><ref name = "ARD" /> and later confirmed in this role in a village election.<ref name = "Pravda-2" /><ref name = "Oliynyk2015" />}} as public assistants to the militsiya precinct inspector, combining the roles of policemen and social workers, to de-escalate and settle conflicts before matters became criminal.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" />
In 2015, following the Maidan Revolution, the militsiya was disbanded and replaced with the National Police of Ukraine.<ref name="ReutersMilitsiya" /> By September 2015, the Interior Ministry had officially launched its own Ukrainian Sheriffs program, replacing district militsiya officers with newly trained police officers, instructed to develop relationships with every family in the villages and small towns of their districts.<ref name="Police2015" /><ref name = "UATnumbers" />
== Featured subjects ==
The film chronicles life in Stara Zburivka between the summers of 2013 and 2014,<ref name = "YakutenkoReview" /> with the concluding scenes occurring in May 2015.<ref name = "Incubator2015" /> Director Roman Bondarchuk stated that the villagers initially avoided the cameras, but later competed for the film crew's attention.<ref name="YakutenkoReview" /> The film focuses on five villagers:
* Viktor Vasylyovych Marunyak (born 21 March 1962<ref name="Kinetz2022"/>) was the chairman of the Stara Zburivka village council, referred to in some sources as its mayor.<ref name = "Halligan2015" /> He was elected to the position in 2006 and re-elected four times.<ref name="Tokariuk2022" /> He is a former history teacher.<ref name = "Trimbach2016" /> * Viktor Grygorovych Kryvoborodko was a village sheriff and pensioner. He aspired to a military career in the Soviet era<ref name = "ARD" /> and later became a militsya officer<ref name = "Halligan2015" /> until he retired to his home village due to health issues.<ref name = "ARD" /> He is middle-aged in the film.{{efn|name="SheriffAge"|The filmmakers state that Kryvoborodko was 50 years old and Rudkovsky was 44 years old, though it is unclear when this applied in the film's multi-year narrative.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" />}} * Volodymyr Rudkovsky was a village sheriff and former member of the militsya who had been primarily occupied with guard duties. He later worked as a nightclub bouncer. Following the birth of his daughter, he settled into a family life in the village<ref name = "Halligan2015" /> and raised pigs on a small plot of land.<ref name = "ARD" /> He is middle-aged in the film.{{efn|name="SheriffAge"}} * Mykola "Kolya" Yanovskyy was an unemployed<ref name = "YakutenkoReview" /><ref name = "Halligan2015" /> habitual petty criminal who performed community service in the village. He was unpopular due to his habits of eating the neighbourhood dogs<ref name = "Halligan2015" /> and making alcohol, but aspired to be accepted and respected.<ref name = "Halligan2015" /> In the film, he stated that all of his cousins had been in prison, and that his brother was sent to prison for the murder of their father. * Serhiy Lazarevych was a pro-Russian separatist whose vocal advocacy threatened to divide the village.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" /><ref name = "Halligan2015" /> He called for the villagers to create a "community of people" independent of any government and espoused Russian World ideology.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" />{{efn|name=Russianworld}}
Years after the filming, during the Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast, Marunyak was taken prisoner by Russian special forces (Spetsnaz GRU) on 21 March 2022.{{efn|Marunyak was an outspoken advocate for peace and democracy, held pro-Ukrainian rallies and hid activists in his home. He was one of more than fifty local leaders who were detained by the Russian military in an attempt to subdue the occupied territories in 2022.<ref name="Mayors2022" /><ref name="Ramachandran2022" />}} They destroyed his house and refused to bring his medication for a chronic illness. After 23 days of captivity, Marunyak was released with pneumonia and nine broken ribs, which he told the Associated Press were due to water torture and beatings. Marunyak was hospitalized for ten days before escaping to Ukrainian-controlled territory.<ref name="Mayors2022" /><ref name="Ramachandran2022" /> Marunyak and his wife Katia were brought out of Russian-occupied territory by humanitarian workers, and moved to exile in Latvia where they stayed with the family of one of the filmmakers.<ref name="Tokariuk2022" /> Marunyak's experiences are the subject of the short documentary ''The Lost Paradise. Viktor Marunyak'' (2022).<ref name="IWMdocumentary" />
Shortly after the end of filming, Kryvoborodko and Rudkovsky were elected deputies of the village council.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" /> In May 2022, Marunyak stated that of the two sheriffs, one had joined the Ukrainian army and was fighting on the eastern front while the other was hiding in Russian-occupied territory.<ref name="Tokariuk2022"/>
== Synopsis ==
The documentary opens in summer 2013 with Rudkovsky chopping firewood. He steadies wood with one hand while swinging the axe, facing away to avoid wood chips. The kindling is then lit in a small stove to make coffee. Kryvoborodko receives an alert and the two sheriffs abandon the coffee. Rudkovsky starts their decrepit 40-year-old Lada sedan<ref name = "Halligan2015" /> and drives them down the dirt road. Kryvoborodko opens the window to finish his cigarette and accidentally dislodges the small Ukrainian flag which had distinguished it as an official car.
The sheriffs settle a dispute by hiring a handyman to repair property damage, allowing a homeless man to leave the village.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" /> Other vagrants have decided to stay in the village, and the sheriffs have attempted to settle them in abandoned, sometimes ramshackle buildings. The sheriffs explain that while not inherently bad, these people do drink and congregate in increasingly crowded and squalid conditions. An elderly resident accuses one such person of being perpetually drunk, operating a tavern and brothel, and putting a snake<!--anaconda--> in her firewood shed.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" />
thumb|right|{{interlanguage link |Stara Zburivka Acacia Forest |uk| Старозбур%27ївський_акацієвий_ліс}}, a protected area south-east of the village The sheriffs check on Kolya and Vova, two petty criminals who are trying to turn their lives around, making sure that they are keeping out of trouble,<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018"/> that they can keep their phones charged, and assisting with their probation documents. After cleaning garbage in a park, Kolya and Vova carry a log to their home as they lack firewood.
Mayor Marunyak meets with Kolya, who explains his ambitions to be respected and accepted, to have his own home, garden and family. He promises not to eat the neighbourhood dogs as he had in the past, believing it a preventative for tuberculosis. Marunyak later decides to transfer Kolya's deceased brother's house to him. Following the official transfer, Kolya begins tidying the overgrown yard of weeds and refuse, while a neighbour loudly complains of an alcoholic wife-beating thief moving in.
At a village council meeting during the winter, a young man named Serhiy unveils his organization which seeks to form an independent community, politically separated from Ukraine, issuing human passports, and withholding taxes from the government. Serhiy espouses Russian World ideology and revisionist history.{{efn|name=Russianworld|Serhiy promotes a revisionist history of an empire of 140 nationalities under Russia, from the Great Wall of China to the North Sea,<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" /> living prosperously. It is an amalgamation of the Norse Rus' people, Kyivan Rus', and civilizations of Tartary as described by 17th-century Europeans whose vague and ignorant descriptions allowed these to be easily adapted in Russian conspiracy theories of a lost civilization.}} Serhiy later addresses a gathering at the village club and is shouted down and ridiculed by the villagers.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" /> The mayor accuses him of trying to divide the villagers. Marunyak invites Serhiy to stand for election but leaves the meeting, tired of his antics.
Meanwhile, there are news reports of the Russian annexation of Crimea. A man perches in a precarious watchtower,{{efn|The watchtower is pictured on the film poster, see infobox.}} listening to distant military transmissions on a small transistor radio. The War in Donbas begins and Serhiy is shown flying a powered paraglider around the watchtower, his purpose unstated.
thumb|right|A makeshift barricade and checkpoint at the village boundary, pictured in 2017, where villagers stopped and inspected vehicles with Crimean licence plates.<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" /> The mood in the village changes with the seriousness of the war. The sheriffs have to deliver registration notices for the military draft,<ref name="ARD" /><ref name="Warszawa2016" /> which is met with some resistance.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" /> Rudkovsky is concerned that he might be on the draft list despite a shoulder injury. While many say that they will fight if the enemy comes from Crimea, most don't want to be sent to fight in Donbas and one man plans to emigrate to Germany. There is excitement when a military convoy passes through the village; Kryvoborodko has his young son Nikita pose for pictures in fatigues with an assault rifle.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" /> When the sheriffs deliver a draft notice to Serhiy's home, they discover that he has fled the village. The sheriffs find the recipient of another draft notice dead in his home; suspecting foul play, they call the militsiya to begin a criminal investigation.
The filmmakers return to the village one year later, in 2015, after Kryvoborodko had reported Kolya for stealing a bicycle; Kolya received a 3.5 year prison sentence.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018"/> The sheriffs both have misgivings: Rudkovsky thinks they could have handled it themselves, and Kryvoborodko believes that prison never made anyone a better person. They're uncertain what should be done with Kolya's wife Tanya, who can only perform simple tasks and may not be able to support herself. She reads a letter from Kolya and speaks to his better qualities.
After much preparation, the village holds its 9 May victory celebrations.{{efn|The Soviet republics commemorated Soviet victory over Nazi Germany on 9 May as Victory Day. In 2015, Ukraine changed its observance to Victory Day over Nazism in World War II, which was later moved to 8 May as Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II 1939 – 1945 with 9 May observed as Europe Day alongside the European Union.}} The mayor speaks of the new war with the new enemy, and the need for those drafted to serve in the military,<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" /> as a half-dozen villagers have already done. Vova is seen wearing fatigues, suggesting that he has achieved an official position in public service.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" />
== Themes == According to Daryna Averchenko, who was the film's screenwriter, ''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' is a story about how people organized themselves to deal with a societal need – policing – without waiting for higher authority to provide instructions.<ref name="Oliynyk2015" /><ref name="Young2015" />
Sociologist Christina Jarymowycz found the film to have themes similar to that of the Maidan: distrust toward state institutions and a desire to take matters into one's own hands. Kryvoborodko and Rudkovsky contrast with cold and often corrupt bureaucrats. They act as a buffer, trying to resolve issues before involving the militsiya, and become an effective alternative to state structures that offer little empathy or reliability.<ref name="Jarymowycz2018" />
The film repeatedly returns to Kolya, described by film critic Neil Young as a "hapless, chaotic chap who seems to have wandered in from a previous century".<ref name = "Young2015" /> According to Anna Yakutenko, Kolya is introduced as a vagrant and a drunken wife-beater, and gradually undergoes a character transformation, "from a villain into a victim of unfortunate circumstances."<ref name = "YakutenkoReview" /> Although Kolya is shown to apply himself and use his own strengths to better his living conditions, he is ultimately imprisoned. In contrast, Kolya's community service partner Vova is seen wearing fatigues at the Victory Day celebration, which Jarymowycz believes is an indication that he, at least, has redeemed himself in the community.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" />
Another theme is the effect of the conflict on everyday life. As the villagers prepare for Victory Day, their memories of past wars become recontextualized in the building conflict.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" />
== Production ==
''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' was produced by Daryna Averchenko for DocuDays South (Ukraine), and co-produced by Uldis Cekulis for VFS Films (Latvia), Irena Taskovski for Taskovski Films (Germany), and Tania Georgieva for German television. Six European TV channels were involved in the production,<ref name = "Young2015" /> and the film also received support from the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) Bertha Fund (Eastern Europe).<ref name = "IDFA-kill" /> It was directed by filmmaker Roman Bondarchuk, who also served as cinematographer and co-editor.<ref name = "Young2015" />
Most of the film was shot from summer 2013 to summer 2014, which covered the period of the Maidan Revolution, the annexation of Crimea, and the beginning of the War in Donbas.<ref name = "YakutenkoReview" /> From the extended shoots, nearly 200 hours of footage covered the sheriffs' investigations, duties, and daily lives. This was initially edited into small episodes with a first cut that was five hours in length and remained over two hours in length until its sixth cut.<ref name="IDFA-kill" /> A preliminary version of the film was workshopped and developed with the guidance of expert documentary creators at the IDFAcademy Summer School in 2014.<ref name = "DFF" /> With additional funding, the crew returned to the village in May 2015 to record reactions to Kolya's arrest and imprisonment, and the 70th anniversary Victory Day celebration, which concludes the film. A rough cut of the film was then developed through the dok.incubator program in 2015.<ref name = "Incubator2015" /><ref name = "Incubator2021" />
A final cut of 88 minutes was assembled by Bondarchuk and co-editor Kateryna Gornostai, with sound by Borys Peter and original music by Anton Baibakov.<ref name = "Young2015"/> A 52-minute edit was made for television.<ref name = "Halligan2015" /> Dialogue is in Russian and Ukrainian.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" />
== Release ==
The film premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and was shown in special programs and in competition at more than three dozen other international film festivals.<ref name="UBWPorochenko" /> Its domestic premiere was at the DocuDays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival on 26 March 2016<ref name = "Oliynyk2015" /><ref name = "YakutenkoReview" /> when it was screened in seven Ukrainian cities: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Mariupol, Odessa and Kherson.<ref name="UBWPorochenko" /><ref name = "Pravda-2" /> Its Asian premiere was at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (South Korea) in September 2016.<ref name = "DMZ" />
''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' received distribution support from the IDFA Bertha Fund, and was released throughout Ukraine in July 2016, then to the Baltic and Balkan regions in September.<ref name=Božanic /> The film's television premiere took place on 1 April 2016 on the Franco-German channel Arte.<ref name="ARD" /><ref name = "YakutenkoReview" />
== Reception ==
Ukrainian film critic {{ interlanguage link | Sergey Trimbach|uk| Тримбач Сергій Васильович}}, writing for ''The Day'', praised ''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' and described Marunyak, Kryvoborodko, and Rudkovsky as role models for Ukraine. He compared the latter two to popular archetypes of American police officers with their weathered masculine looks, confident strength and sense of humour. He concluded that the film is about taking initiative to better one's life rather than waiting on the outcome of disputes between greater powers<ref name = "Trimbach2016" /> Anna Yakutenko wrote for ''Kyiv Post'' that the film portrays rural lives "in a semi-comic way [yet] sincere and heartwarming" but felt that it did not go far enough into examining attitudes toward the war and that the ending was too abrupt.<ref name= "YakutenkoReview" /> Neil Young, in ''The Hollywood Reporter'', described ''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' as "an episodic, wryly amusing affair, displaying considerable interest in and sympathy with human foibles."<ref name="Young2015" /> Fionnuala Halligan, chief film critic at ''Screen Daily'', also praised the film and predicted that it would do well at international film festivals, but found that the subtitles left parts of the story unclear.<ref name="Halligan2015" />
Jarymowycz wrote that the film "artfully evokes both difficult truths and moments of hope in everyday lives of Ukrainians" but felt that its narrative simplified and idealized the village, rather than challenging the audience with its rougher complexities.<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018" />
=== Accolades ===
The film won the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam's (IDFA's) 2015 Special Jury Award.<ref name="UAT-IDFA" /> It also won the Mayor of Gdynia Award at the Docs Against Gravity Festival in Poland.<ref name = "Gdynia" /> The Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers (NSU) named ''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' the Best Ukrainian Non-Fiction Film of 2016 at the {{ interlanguage link | 2017 NSU awards|uk| Премія НСКУ 2017 | lt=2017 NSU awards ceremony}}.<ref name="NSU" />
The NSU put ''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' on a shortlist of submissions for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the American 89th Academy Awards, along with ''The Nest of the Turtledove'' and ''Song of Songs''.<ref name="Pravda-1" /><ref name="Pravda-2" /> ''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' was later chosen as Ukraine's official submission for the category.<ref name="hwr1" /><ref name="UAToscar" />
In 2021, Ukraine's National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Centre compiled a list of the {{ interlanguage link | best 100 films in Ukrainian cinema|uk| Список_100_найкращих_фільмів_в_історії_українського_кіно }} through a survey of Ukrainian film critics, film experts and festival curators. ''Ukrainian Sheriffs'' ranked at position 56 on the list.<ref name = "BBC-100" /><ref name = "Dovzhenko-100" />
== See also ==
* List of submissions to the 89th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film * List of Ukrainian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
== Footnotes ==
=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}
=== References ===
<references>
<ref name="Peacock2016">{{cite journal | first1 = Robert | last1 = Peacock | first2 = Gary | last2 = Cordner | title = 'Shock Therapy' in Ukraine: A Radical Approach to Post-Soviet Police Reform | journal = Public Administration & Development | date = May 2016 | volume = 36 | issue = 2 | pages = 80–92 | doi = 10.1002/pad.1748 | issn = 0271-2075 }}</ref>
<ref name = "Oliynyk2015">{{cite news | last = Oliynyk | first = Eugenia | title = "Українські шерифи": фільм про сільських волонтерів, які "замінили" міліцію | trans-title = "Ukrainian Sheriffs": a film about village volunteers who "replaced" the police | url = https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/27421665.html | work = Radio Liberty | language = uk | date = 11 December 2015 | access-date = 7 May 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160507235302/http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/27421665.html | archive-date = 7 May 2016 }}</ref>
<ref name="ReutersMilitsiya">{{cite news | first1 = Margarita | last1 = Chornokondrantenko | first2 = Elizabeth | last2 = Piper | url = https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-launches-western-style-police-force-set-marker-133852935.html | title = Ukraine launches Western-style police force to set a marker for reform | work = Yahoo News | date = 6 July 2015 | agency = Reuters | accessdate = 28 February 2024 | archive-date = 31 August 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190831034223/https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-launches-western-style-police-force-set-marker-133852935.html | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "Trimbach2016">{{cite news | last = Trimbach | first = Sergey | title = Кіноновації та кіно надії | trans-title = Cinematic innovation and hopeful cinematography | url = https://day.kyiv.ua/uk/article/kultura/kinonovaciyi-ta-kino-nadiyi | work = The Day | language = uk | date = 23 September 2016 | access-date = 24 February 2021 | archive-date = 28 November 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161128120755/https://day.kyiv.ua/uk/article/kultura/kinonovaciyi-ta-kino-nadiyi | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="Police2015">{{cite journal | title = Ukraine: "Ukrainian sheriffs" to operate in towns and villages of the country | date = 24 September 2015 | id = {{ProQuest | 1716089909}} | journal = Mena Report | publisher = SyndiGate Media Inc | location = London | eissn = 2219-0112 }}</ref>
<ref name = "UATnumbers">{{cite web | title = Week in numbers | url = https://www.unian.info/society/1138138-week-in-numbers.html | work = Ukraine Today | date = 30 September 2015 | access-date = 9 March 2024 | archive-date = 24 June 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210624051948/https://www.unian.info/society/1138138-week-in-numbers.html | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="Mayors2022">{{cite news | first1 = Yuras | last1 = Karmanau | first2 = Hanna | last2 = Arhirova | first3 = Joanna | last3 = Kozlowska | first4 = Jamey | last4 = Keaten | date = 3 November 2022 | title = Russians try to subdue Ukrainian towns by seizing mayors | work = The Independent (online) | location = London | agency = Associated Press | id = {{ProQuest | 2731906185}} }}</ref>
<ref name = "IDFA-kill">{{cite web | title = Kill Your Darlings: Ukrainian Sheriffs | url = https://www.idfa.nl/en/article/29485/kill-your-darlings-ukrainian-sheriffs | work = International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam | date = 17 November 2015 | access-date = 25 February 2021 | archive-date = 18 April 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210418003336/https://www.idfa.nl/en/article/29485/kill-your-darlings-ukrainian-sheriffs | url-status = dead }}</ref>
<ref name = Božanic>{{cite web | last = Broeren-Huitenga | first = Joost | title = Bringing it Home: Sara Božanic about the innovative distribution of Ukrainian Sheriffs | url = https://www.idfa.nl/en/article/82516/bringing-it-home | work = International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam | date = 2 October 2017 | access-date = 25 February 2021 | archive-date = 17 April 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210417233855/https://www.idfa.nl/en/article/82516/bringing-it-home | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "ARD">{{cite web | title = Ukrainische Sheriffs | url = https://programm.ard.de/TV/Programm/Sender/?sendung=2872417026027453 | publisher = ARD | language = de | date = 1 April 2016 | access-date = 25 February 2021 | archive-date = 8 March 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230308121504/https://programm.ard.de/TV/Programm/Sender/?sendung=2872417026027453 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
<ref name = "Young2015">{{cite web | last = Young | first = Neil | title = 'Ukrainian Sheriffs': IDFA Review | url = http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/ukrainian-sheriffs-idfa-review-846198 | work = The Hollywood Reporter | date = 7 December 2015 | access-date = 31 August 2016 | archive-date = 29 November 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201129113123/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/ukrainian-sheriffs-idfa-review-846198 | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "Halligan2015">{{cite news | last = Halligan | first = Fionnuala | title = 'Ukrainian Sheriffs': Review | url = https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/ukrainian-sheriffs-review/5097445.article | work = Screen Daily | date = 30 November 2015 | access-date = 25 February 2021 | archive-date = 25 June 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180625021111/https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/ukrainian-sheriffs-review/5097445.article | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="Tokariuk2022">{{cite magazine |first=Olga |last=Tokariuk |title='We Have Been Invaded by Fascists': Viktor Marunyak, the 'sheriff' of Stara Zburievka in Southern Ukraine, survived abduction and torture at the hands of Russian occupiers |date=25 May 2022 |magazine=New Lines Magazine |url=https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/we-have-been-invaded-by-fascists/ |access-date=12 June 2025 |archive-date=20 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250320082208/https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/we-have-been-invaded-by-fascists/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name = "YakutenkoReview">{{cite news | first = Anna | last = Yakutenko | title = Film about Ukrainian sheriffs sheds light on rural life | date = 1 April 2016 | work = Kyiv Post | url = https://archive.kyivpost.com/article/guide/movies/film-about-ukrainian-sheriffs-sheds-light-on-rural-life-411146.html | archive-date = 13 May 2024 | access-date = 29 March 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240513143451/https://archive.kyivpost.com/article/guide/movies/film-about-ukrainian-sheriffs-sheds-light-on-rural-life-411146.html | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "NSU">{{cite web | title = Оголошено переможців Премії НСКУ найкращим вітчизняним фільмам 2016 року | trans-title = The winners of the NSU Award for the best domestic films of 2016 | url = http://ukrkino.com.ua/about/spilkanews/?id=7975 | publisher = Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers | date = 31 May 2017 | language = uk | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170603005228/http://ukrkino.com.ua/about/spilkanews/?id=7975 | archive-date = 3 June 2017 | access-date = 25 February 2021 }}</ref>
<ref name = "Pravda-1">{{cite web | title = Обрано три фільми-кандидати на "Оскар" від України | trans-title = Three films from Ukraine have been selected for Oscar nomination | url = http://life.pravda.com.ua/culture/2016/08/31/217458/ | work = Ukrayinska Pravda | date = 31 August 2016 | language = uk | access-date = 31 August 2016 | archive-date = 29 August 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170829032733/http://life.pravda.com.ua/culture/2016/08/31/217458/ | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "Pravda-2">{{cite web | title = На "Оскар" від України номінували фільм "Українські шерифи" | trans-title = "Ukrainian Sheriffs" nominated by Ukraine for the Oscars | url = http://life.pravda.com.ua/culture/2016/09/9/217833/ | work = Ukrayinska Pravda | date = 9 September 2016 | language = uk | access-date = 9 September 2016 | archive-date = 23 October 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201023081603/https://life.pravda.com.ua/culture/2016/09/9/217833/ | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "hwr1">{{cite web | title = Oscars: Ukraine Selects 'Ukrainian Sheriffs' for Foreign-Language Category | url = http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-ukraine-selects-ukrainian-sheriffs-926915 | work = The Hollywood Reporter | date = 9 September 2016 | access-date = 9 September 2016 | archive-date = 11 February 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210211195356/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-ukraine-selects-ukrainian-sheriffs-926915 | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "UAToscar">{{cite web | title = Ukraine selects its candidate for foreign-language Oscar | url = http://uatoday.tv/entertainment/ukraine-selects-its-candidate-for-foreign-language-oscar-743635.html | work = Ukraine Today | date = 9 September 2016 | access-date = 9 September 2016 | archive-date = 15 November 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161115044614/http://uatoday.tv/entertainment/ukraine-selects-its-candidate-for-foreign-language-oscar-743635.html | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "UAT-IDFA">{{cite news | title = Ukrainian film awarded with Special Jury Prize at IDFA documentary festival | url = http://uatoday.tv/news/ukrainian-film-awarded-with-special-jury-prize-at-idfa-documentary-festival-542493.html | work = Ukraine Today | date = 26 November 2015 | access-date = 25 February 2021 | archive-date = 12 December 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151212190343/http://uatoday.tv/news/ukrainian-film-awarded-with-special-jury-prize-at-idfa-documentary-festival-542493.html | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "Jarymowycz2018">{{cite journal | first = Christina Olha | last = Jarymowycz | title = Ukrainian Sheriffs, directed by Roman Bondarchuk | date = March 2018 | journal = Nationalities Papers | volume = 46 | issue = 2 | pages = 326–328 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | doi = 10.1080/00905992.2017.1379068 | url = https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/abs/ukrainian-sheriffs-directed-by-roman-bondarchuk-produced-by-uldis-cekulis-and-darya-averchenko-ukraine-germany-2015-85-min-in-russian-and-ukrainian-with-english-subtitles-contact-michaela-cajkova-taskovskifilms-twitter-taskovskifilms-webpage-httpswwwukrainiansheriffscom-shown-at-the-asn-2017-world-convention/39A3C0B6BC725FC104EEEF96C32AE1FF | url-access = subscription | archive-date = 29 March 2024 | access-date = 29 March 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240329183835/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/abs/ukrainian-sheriffs-directed-by-roman-bondarchuk-produced-by-uldis-cekulis-and-darya-averchenko-ukraine-germany-2015-85-min-in-russian-and-ukrainian-with-english-subtitles-contact-michaela-cajkova-taskovskifilms-twitter-taskovskifilms-webpage-httpswwwukrainiansheriffscom-shown-at-the-asn-2017-world-convention/39A3C0B6BC725FC104EEEF96C32AE1FF | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="Ramachandran2022">{{cite magazine | first = Naman | last = Ramachandran | title = Russia's War in Ukraine: Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack to Participate in Fundraiser for Ukrainian Refugees | date = 28 March 2022 | magazine = Variety | url = https://variety.com/2022/politics/global/russias-ukraine-war-media-industry-response-1235193925/ | access-date = 29 March 2024 | archive-date = 24 May 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230524034348/https://variety.com/2022/politics/global/russias-ukraine-war-media-industry-response-1235193925/ | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="IWMdocumentary">{{cite web |title=Ukraine Testifies: A Documentary Film Screening |publisher=Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) |url=https://www.iwm.at/event/ukraine-testifies |access-date=5 May 2025 |archive-date=10 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241110182615/https://www.iwm.at/event/ukraine-testifies |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="Warszawa2016">{{cite journal | first = Urszula | last = Lipinska | date = July 2016 | title = Cichy Chaos | language = pl | journal = Warszawa: Fundacja KINO | volume = 51 | issue = 589 | pages = 57–59 | id = {{ProQuest | 1833034680}} }}</ref>
<ref name = "DFF">{{cite book | editor1-first = Aida | editor1-last = Vallejo | editor2-first = Ezra | editor2-last = Winton | title = Documentary Film Festivals: Changes, Challenges, Professional Perspectives | volume = 2 | pages = 42–43 | isbn = 978-3030173241 | date = 28 May 2020 | publisher = Springer International Publishing }}</ref>
<ref name = "Incubator2015" >{{cite magazine | first = Damon | last = Wise | title = IDFA: How DOK.Incubator Helps Documentary Filmmakers Raise Their Game | date = 24 November 2015 | magazine = Variety | url = https://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/idfa-how-dok-incubator-helps-documentary-filmmakers-raise-their-game-1201648412/ | access-date = 29 March 2024 | archive-date = 7 October 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221007180146/https://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/idfa-how-dok-incubator-helps-documentary-filmmakers-raise-their-game-1201648412/ | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="Kinetz2022">{{cite news |first1=Erika |last1=Kinetz |first2=Solomiia |last2=Hera |title=The Hunted: These Are The Ukrainians Russia Wanted to Find |date=21 December 2022 |work=Frontline |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/ukrainians-russia-wanted-to-find/ }}</ref>
<ref name = "Incubator2021" >{{cite web | first = Vladan | last = Petkovic | title = dok.incubator to present its 2020 projects in February | website = Cineuropa | date = 19 January 2021 | url = https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/396621/ | access-date = 28 March 2024 | archive-date = 13 January 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230113151153/https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/396621/ | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "DMZ" >{{cite web | url = https://www.dmzdocs.com/eng/addon/00000002/history_film_view.asp?m_idx=101308&QueryYear=2016 | publisher = DMZ International Documentary Film Festival | access-date = 28 March 2024 | title = Ukrainian Sheriffs | archive-date = 30 June 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220630003107/https://dmzdocs.com/eng/addon/00000002/history_film_view.asp?m_idx=101308&QueryYear=2016 | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="UBWPorochenko">{{cite magazine | magazine = Ukraine Business Weekly | title = Stronger Intl Coalition Supporting Ukraine, Further Anti-Russian Sanctions Priority – Poroshenko | page = 1 | date = 28 September 2016 | publisher = Interfax-Ukraine }}</ref>
<ref name = "Gdynia" >{{cite web | url = http://archiwum2016.docsag.pl/en/contest/the-mayor-of-gdynia-award/?dist=warszawa | publisher = Millennium Docs Against Gravity | title = The Mayor of Gdynia Award | access-date = 28 March 2024 | archive-date = 4 December 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231204120827/http://archiwum2016.docsag.pl/en/contest/the-mayor-of-gdynia-award/?dist=warszawa | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "BBC-100" >{{cite news | title = 100 найкращих українських фільмів усіх часів за версією кінокритиків. Список | language = uk | trans-title = The 100 best Ukrainian films of all time according to film critics. List | work = BBC News Ukraine | date = 25 June 2021 | url = https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/news-57597388 | access-date = 29 March 2024 | archive-date = 6 July 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210706004727/https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/news-57597388 | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name = "Dovzhenko-100" >{{cite web | title = Top 100 – Dovzhenko Centre | publisher = National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Centre | url = https://dovzhenkocentre.org/en/top-100/ | access-date = 29 March 2024 | archive-date = 26 March 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240326233212/https://dovzhenkocentre.org/en/top-100/ | url-status = live }}</ref>
</references>
==External links== * {{IMDb title|4658808|Ukrainian Sheriffs}}
{{Ukrainian submissions for the Academy Award}} {{Authority control}}
Category:2015 films Category:2015 documentary films Category:Ukrainian documentary films Category:2010s Ukrainian-language films Category:Russian-language Ukrainian films Category:Documentary films about law enforcement Category:Documentary films about politics Category:Documentary films about the war in Donbas Category:2015 Ukrainian films