KAI

SYNOPSIS

Kai is going through a midlife crisis: he doesn’t love his wife anymore, he’s not interested in business because he wants to become a writer, and he doesn’t notice that his youngest son is seriously ill. 2014. The Russian-Ukrainian war begins and Kai becomes a volunteer in eastern Ukraine.

CONTACT

AMOUNT OF THE SUPPORT FOR PRODUCTION: 150 000 €

Date of the decision : January 27th, 2025

THE DIRECTOR

Oleh Sentsov’s first feature GAMER was premiered at the Rotterdam IFF in 2012. During the first months of the Russian annexation of Crimea 21014, Sentsov was arrested there by Russia’s Secret Service FSB and charged with planning terrorist attacks. Despite a complete lack of evidence, he was unlawfully sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, giving rise to a global campaign for his release, #SaveOlegSentsov.

In 2018, he received the European Parliament‘s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, before being finally released on September 7, 2019, as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Russia and Ukraine. The world premiere of Oleh’s next film RHINO took place in the Orrizonti program of Venice IFF, won the Grand-Prix of Stockholm IFF, and was released in over 20 territories.

On February 24, 2022, Oleh Sentsov joined Ukrainian Defence Forces. His war documentary REAL was presented in the official program of Karlovy Vary IFF.