Cinema for Peace Award for The Pope, President Zelenskyy, and Filmmaker Afineevsky

His Holiness Pope Francis receives the Cinema for Peace Honorary Award

Cinema for Peace Honorary Award 2023 Trailer

VATICAN CITY / ROME — Cinema for Peace hosted a special honoring of His Holiness Pope Francis, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky at the Vatican and in Rome, which was followed by a screening of the film “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom”, at the European University of Rome.

Cinema for Peace has honored the greatest icons of mankind in the past, from Muhammed Ali to Nelson Mandela, groundbreaking women like Dame Jane Goodall, men who changed the world such as Mikhail Gorbachev, film artists such as Sean Penn for his work in Haiti, Angelina Jolie for opposing genocide, George Clooney for creating critical consciousness with the film “Good Night, and Good Luck”; and introduced a “Green Oscar” with Leonardo DiCaprio and a Justice Award with the chief prosecutors of the International Criminal Court. 

But this is the first time that two global leaders and one filmmaker were honored with a joint award and the awards are dedicated to someone — the children who lost their lives in the war in Ukraine. The three awards have an engraving of pictures of three innocent children who were killed on March 08, 2022, by a missile — Obodzinsky Volodymir (14 years old), Deyneko Nicol (1 year old), and  Deyneko Denis (1 year old). The father of these children who lost his entire family to the war, Volodymyr Obidzinskyi, accompanied Cinema for Peace at the honoring and the film screening and mentioned that he now finds solace in believing that his wife and children are protected in heaven. The audience shared the pain with him and were in tears. 

The first honoree was Pope Francis, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on Earth. The founder of Cinema for Peace Jaka Bizilj said :
“There has not been a single day, since the full-scale war started last year, in which Pope Francis has not helped victims of the invasion of Ukraine. From going to the Russian Embassy by himself on the first day of the full-scale invasion to ask the Ambassador of Russia to help reach Putin and stop this bloodshed, to asking the Russian government to open humanitarian corridors for civilians to be evacuated from the war zones, and sending pediatric ambulances to Ukraine. Acting as a true diplomat of God, His Holiness was, in silence, behind the wild curtain of the war, knocking on the doors of all diplomatic possibilities and helping organize humanitarian corridors from many different places including the city of Mariupol and for the people who had been trapped under the bombs in the catacombs of the Azovsteal plant.”

Receiving the honorary award humbly in his private residence in the morning, Pope Francis asked to pray for him. 

The second honoree was President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “who stands side by side with the ordinary people of his country and makes a difference in our world by leading Ukraine to be a shield for the European Union and the Western world against an imperialistic aggressor. When other leaders fled their capitals in their private planes, President Zelenskyy stayed with his people in the darkest hours of the attack on February 24, 2022.  When the invaders appeared all over Ukraine, Bucha, and the outskirts of Kyiv, he decided to stay and fight for the freedom of his motherland. Together with millions of brave Ukrainians and the support of the international community, he has pushed the aggressor back. We honor President Zelenskyy for the extraordinary input into defending democracy against obvious attempts to violate international law and principles of peaceful coexistence, which have been installed since the end of the Second World War and that have been defining relations between states for 70 post-war years,” said Jaka Bizilj, the chairman of Cinema for Peace. The ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See, H.E. Andrii Yurash accepted the award on behalf of President Zelenskyy. 

The third honoree was the Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky, “who through his passion for telling stories that matter, his love for humanity, and his work for justice, have been able to bring a spotlight on the major key issues of today’s world and been able to give voice to voiceless. From “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” to “Cries from Syria” (winner of the Cinema for Peace the Most Valuable Film of the Year 2018), to “Francesco” and back again to Ukraine with “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s fight for Freedom”. Immediately after the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, with his original filmmaker’s team of the movie “WINTER ON FIRE”, Evgeny created the companion piece FREEDOM ON FIRE: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom. This movie depicts the horrible realities of this unprovoked war instigated by Vladimir Putin. The film is an exploration of the courage of the Ukrainian people led by the courageous President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who are all together fiercely determined to stand their ground until the last drop of blood. Demonstrating an astounding ability to unite as a people and defend the sovereignty of their country, Ukrainians continually show compassion and resilience even when surrounded by death, destruction, and unfathomable war crimes. Evgeny, as a filmmaker, has documented what unites all three honorees: the quest for freedom and peace for the people of Ukraine,” said Jaka Bizilj.

Click to watch the trailer for "Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom" by Evgeny Afineevsky

Click to watch the trailer for “Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom" by Evgeny Afineevsky

Click to watch the trailer for "Francesco" by Evgeny Afineevsky