TRACES Director Alisa Kovalenko and protagonist Iryna Dovhan will attend the Irish premiere at the IFI Documentary Festival in Dublin on 24 September 2026. The premiere of TRACES will be followed on 25 September by a panel discussion at Europe House exploring conflict-related sexual violence, survivor leadership and their role in the pursuit of justice and accountability, in collaboration with the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence, SEMA (We Will Speak Out) Ukraine and the Embassy of Ukraine in Ireland.
Bringing together documentary cinema, lived experience, and human rights advocacy, the two events will examine conflict-related sexual violence committed in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the struggle against silence and impunity, and the important role played by survivors as active participants in shaping justice.
TRACES received the Berlinale Panorama Audience Award for best documentary film and has been selected as Ukraine’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards in 2027. In a statement, the Ukrainian Academy Awards Committee called “Traces” an “honest and profound documentary about an experience that is extremely difficult to put into words, and about the strength of women who find the courage within themselves not to remain silent […] Despite the extreme complexity of the subject matter, the film finds a delicate and expressive cinematic language that does not alienate the viewer but allows them to connect with the protagonists, hear their stories, and empathize with them”.
ICGBV’s involvement builds on its previous collaboration with Alisa Kovalenko and Iryna Dovhan. Both participated in ICGBV’s panel discussion on survivor leadership at the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York in 2025, where a trailer for TRACES was screened. SEMA Ukraine, the survivor-led organisation of which they are members, was also featured in ICGBV’s research, From Survivor-Centred to Survivor-Led: Lessons from Promising Survivor-Led GBV Accountability Initiatives. ICGBV is delighted to welcome Alisa and Iryna to Dublin to continue promoting their work and elevate inspiring examples of survivor leadership.
24 SEPTEMBER | IRISH PREMIERE
IFI Documentary Festival 2026
Time: 18:15
Venue: Irish Film Institute (IFI), Cinema 2, Temple Bar, Dublin
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Alisa Kovalenko and Iryna Dovhan, the film’s main protagonist and Head of SEMA Ukraine, hosted by Zlata Filipović.
Buy tickets here.
25 SEPTEMBER | PANEL DISCUSSION
SURVIVOR LEADERS IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
The panel discussion will bring together survivor leaders, human rights advocates, and experts to explore the role of survivors in shaping justice and accountability. The panel discussion will be moderated by Colonel Jayne Lawlor of the Irish Defence Forces, with panellists Filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko, Iryna Dovhan, SEMA Ukraine, Professor Catherine O’Rourke, DCU and Róisín Gallagher, ICGBV.
Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland Larysa Gerasko will officially open the event.
Building on the issues raised in TRACES, the discussion will move from testimony to action, asking what it means for survivors to challenge narratives of passive victimhood and become active participants in shaping justice, accountability, and peacebuilding.
At its heart is a simple principle: survivors should not only be heard — they must have the power to shape the decisions, processes and institutions that determine what justice and accountability look like.
ABOUT THE FILM
TRACES tells the stories of Ukrainian women who survived conflict-related sexual violence, captivity and torture during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine — and who refuse to remain silent.
The film follows human rights defender Iryna Dovhan as she travels through de-occupied territories of Ukraine, meeting women whose lives have been profoundly marked by violence and documenting crimes that remain among the most hidden consequences of war.
The film’s director, Alisa Kovalenko, is herself a survivor of captivity and conflict-related sexual violence committed in 2014 in the Donbas region controlled by Russian and pro-Russian forces. In 2019, she joined SEMA Ukraine and has since been actively engaged in human rights and advocacy addressing CRSV in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Since 2025, she has also been a member of SEMA — the Global Network of CRSV Survivors. Her personal experience and long-term advocacy became the foundation for TRACES, making the film a rare and deeply survivor-led work — created with and from within the survivor community.
Moving beyond narratives of victimhood, TRACES is a film about courage, agency, and solidarity.
Watch the trailer for TRACES here.