The Ukrainian series “In Her Car”, filmed in the middle of the war, is released on the France Télévisions platform on Wednesday February 21

The Ukrainian series “In Her Car”, filmed in the country at war, will be put online simultaneously on Wednesday on the platforms of several European public media, two years after the Russian invasion of the country, announced France Télévisions, which refers to “a first “.

Sort ofIn therapy (the successful Arte series) in the car, the series In Her Car is inspired by events experienced by Ukrainians at the start of the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022, through the story of Lydia (Anastasia Karpenko), a psychologist leading refugees away from the fighting while collecting their confidences. It will be put online simultaneously on Wednesday February 21 on the platforms of several European public media.

Created by Eugen Tunik, this fiction is co-produced by Starlight Media, a company based in Kiev, and by Gaumont, thanks to the association with France Télévisions, ZDF (Germany), SVT (Sweden), RUV (Iceland), NRK ( Norway), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland) and SRF (Switzerland). The first five episodes will be posted online on Wednesday on france.tv and on the platforms of these public media, covering some 185 million Europeans.

“Show life as it was at the start of the war”

The series, of a total of 10 episodes of 25 minutes, will then be broadcast on different dates on the channels of each of the associated countries. The project was unveiled in October 2022 at Mipcom in Cannes, the largest international audiovisual content market, illustrating the resilience of the Ukrainian television industry. Filming began in March 2023, in undisclosed locations, in kyiv and its surroundings, on sets near bomb shelters.

“It was crucial for me to shoot in Ukraine, not because I’m crazy, but to show life as it was at the start of the war” And “because we can do it“, Eugen Tunik explained last year. “It would have been so understandable that the series“is filled with hatred towards Russia but, “At no time did Eugen fall into this trap“, argued Andreas Bareiss, producer for Gaumont in Germany.

To mark the two years of the war in Ukraine, France Télévisions will offer on its platform and its channels a range of reports, documentaries and fiction, “strong works and stories that transcend suffering and borders, carry courage, hope and freedom“, according to a press release. The documentary 20 Days in Mariupol (20 days in Mariupol), directed by Mstyslav Chernov, will be broadcast on February 21 on france.tv and February 25 on France 5. Already a multi-award winner, and nominated for the Oscars, it relates the arrival of war in a Ukrainian city which became the place of one of the bloodiest battles of the Russian invasion.