Matiss Kaza bringing his Oscar-winning expertise from ‘Flow’ to support Ukrainian cinema represents a powerful artistic solidarity — this is international collaboration at its most meaningful, elevating voices from a war-torn region while honoring the craft that earned him Hollywood’s highest recognition.
Insiders note the production faces brutal realities beyond creative challenges. Producer Sashko Chubko of Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema admitted to Variety: ‘Most of us are quite exhausted right now, after four years of war.’ The film is being made in circumstances that would break most Western productions — limited funding, constant stress, and artists trying to create while their country remains under siege.
The State Film Agency will announce results of its first funding call since Russia’s full-scale invasion (February 2022) later this year. The film is based on three historical assassinations: Symon Petlura was shot in Paris in 1926, Yevhen Konovalets killed by bomb in Rotterdam in 1938, and Stepan Bandera poisoned in Munich in 1959 — all carried out by Soviet agents.
Kaza joining this project signals that serious international industry players are paying attention to Ukrainian artists who refuse to let war silence their voices. ‘Times New Roman’ may be one of the most important co-productions of the year — and a testament to cinema’s power to process trauma, history, and identity under impossible circumstances.
Academy Award-winning Latvian producer Matiss Kaza has officially boarded Philip Sotnychenko’s sophomore feature ‘Times New Roman,’ marking a significant boost for the Ukrainian director’s deeply personal new project. Kaza, who co-wrote and produced Gints Zilbalodis’ animated masterpiece ‘Flow’ — which won Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars — brings serious industry weight to what has been an uphill battle from day one. The film is set to take part in the Transilvania Pitch Stop co-production forum this week during the Transilvania International Film Festival (running June 12-21), where it will seek additional partners.
Kaza’s Trickster Pictures joins a pan-European production already anchored by Ukraine’s Halyna Kryvorchuk of Viatel and Valeria Sochyvets and Sashko Chubko for Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema, alongside afterschool from Lithuania, Superzoom Film from Germany, and GoGoFilm from the Netherlands. Sotnychenko’s ‘Times New Roman’ follows Roman, a Kyiv-based artist grappling with a midlife crisis and alcohol addiction in the shadow of Russia’s full-scale invasion. An unlikely lifeline appears when he’s offered an ambitious performance art project: staging reenactments of historical assassinations of Ukrainian political figures exiled in Europe — specifically Symon Petlura (shot dead in Paris, 1926), Yevhen Konovalets (killed by bomb in Rotterdam, 1938), and Stepan Bandera (poisoned in Munich, 1959).
All three were eliminated by Soviet agents. Roman embarks on a road trip to these three fateful European sites, hoping the project offers escape — only to discover his demons won’t stay behind. In a director’s statement provided exclusively to Variety, Sotnychenko described the project as “a reflection on contemporary Ukraine, seen through the eyes of an artist in inner conflict — torn between staying or leaving, being useful or being honest, feeling or acting.” He added: “These are questions faced by many Ukrainians today, and I want to explore them through the language of cinema.” The film is being made in collaboration with performers and visual artists Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei, who will also star.
This marks a dramatic escalation from Sotnychenko’s enigmatic feature debut ‘La Palisiada,’ an elliptical police procedural that premiered at Rotterdam and served as Ukraine’s Oscar entry in 2023. Variety’s Manuel Betancourt called it “a disquieting provocation” with “an elliptical, almost dream-like logic… All is nebulous and oblique, but within that haze is a powerful story about how history is written.” That film was entirely shot before Russia’s full-scale invasion of February 2022 — ‘Times New Roman’ is being made in vastly more challenging circumstances.
The production has been bolstered by news that the Ukrainian State Film Agency is expected to announce results of its first funding call since Russia’s invasion later this year, after redirecting cultural funds toward the war effort. Producer Sashko Chubko acknowledged the toll: “There are physical challenges, mental challenges and financial challenges… It all creates this building mental stress and mental load on you. Most of us are quite exhausted right now, after four years of war. It’s very difficult to work, but somehow, we still manage.”
