Ukrainian filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko has herself served on the front line. Her new documentary, Traces, examines sexual violence used as a weapon of war by Russian forces. The film follows Iryna Dovhan, a former captive and activist who records women’s testimonies in areas of Ukraine liberated from Russian occupation. The women who survived sexual violence during the invasion now come together, drawing strength from one another and sharing their stories, however painful. Traces is a sensitive psychological portrait of six women, and of the courage and solidarity that sustain them through war.
