Oscar-winning documentary In The Rearview has been acquired for US distribution by Film Movement

Film Movement has acquired US rights to Maciek Hamela’s film In the rearview mirrorWinner of over a dozen awards at film festivals around the world, including the top prize at Sheffield DocFest.

The film, a powerful account of Ukrainian families trying to reach safety across the Polish border after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will be released in theaters in the United States and will win an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

Hamela and producer Piotr Grawender are currently in Amsterdam for the Dutch premiere of In the rearview mirror at IDFA. The film will be screened in the “Best of Fests” section, reserved for what the festival believes are the best documentaries of the year. In the rearview mirror also made it onto the IDA shortlist of the best non-fiction films of 2023.

When we spoke to Hamela at the Cannes Film Festival, he explained that much of Polish society mobilized to help Ukrainians after Russia’s brutal and unprovoked attack. Hamela was no exception; He raised money to buy a van and began transporting people of all ages from Ukraine to Poland and out of the Russian bomb zone. A few weeks after his emergency response, he decided to film the journeys by installing a camera in the van. It was taken while you were driving.

“In the beginning there were so many questions [of the filming process]”From the question of whether it would destroy the intimacy of the whole situation from what I saw,” Hamela told us, “to all the moral questions about shooting people at such a vulnerable moment in their lives.”

In the rearview mirror appeared at the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival in Poland in mid-May and went from there to Cannes, where it played in the festival’s ACID sidebar. Hamela said it was important to him that viewers identify with the troubled people on screen.

“I want the public to see that these people are living the exact same lives as us,” he said. “This is their normal life. They have pets, they have cows, they fight with their wives. You have children who want to go to the sea on holiday. And they have to lie to her [because of the war] or they promise things, promises they can’t keep,” he says. “This happens very often when we watch documentaries about atrocities; We become detached from what we see very quickly because it is too much. We can’t handle it anymore. And I wanted to avoid that.”

Michael Rosenberg, president of the film movement, said in a statement: “We are proud to bring American audiences this intimate, yet powerful and devastating film that reminds us all of the human perspective of a war that continues to rage.”

In the rearview mirror was also picked up by Filmin in Spain and Portugal, VG in Norway, Fabula in Turkey and PCCW in Hong Kong. The film was released by New Story in France last week. The film will be released in Polish cinemas on November 24.

Cinephil represents worldwide rights to the film and negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers with Michael Rosenberg of Film Movement. The film is produced by Piotr Grawender (Affinity Cine), Maciek Hamela (Pemplum), Jean-Marie Gigon (SaNoSi Productions) and Anna Palenchuk (435 FILMS).