The documentary short «Homecoming»/ «Open World» by Ukrainian artistic duo Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimey has been shortlisted for the European Film Academy Awards in the Best Short Film category, the European Film Academy reports.
According to the description, «Homecoming» follows a Ukrainian teenager who left Ukraine after the start of the full-scale invasion and returns home with the help of a robot dog — his mechanical avatar. He controls it from his room in Poland. Through this remote presence, the boy returns to his memories and reconnects with his past via a video link that can be cut off at any moment.
According to the directors, in this short documentary they aim to address technology as a means of recovery. In the film, the robot dog — originally developed and used by the Ukrainian military for reconnaissance — is intended, in their concept, to become something new: through the robot, the boy tries to return home and restore his connection with the land he was forced to leave.
«For us, this is not just a film, but a gesture: an insistence that the connection continues despite the rupture, that distance cannot erase belonging, and that imagination and art remain powerful tools for preserving identity», the directors explain.
They added that the work is a way to rethink what it means to return — not as a physical act, but as a deeply human desire to remain connected to the place called home.
«Homecoming»/ «Open World» won the Grand Prix at the 17th Lviv International Short Film Festival Wiz-Art, which ran from 22 to 27 September.
As a reminder, the shortlist for the European Film Academy Awards previously included the Ukrainian animated film «Kyiv Cake» by Mykyta Lyskov, as well as the feature film «Easter Day» by Ukrainian director Mykola Zasieiev.
About Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimey:
- artists, directors, directors of photography;
- collaborated with the Dutch artists’ group Metahaven on the film «Hometown» (2018) and with director Filip Sotnychenko («The Nail» (2016), «Technical Break» (2017));
- laureates of the Second Special Prize «PinchukArtCentre Prize 2018» and the main prize «MUKHi 2019»;
- in September, their video work «Open World» was presented at the Ars Electronica digital arts festival in Austria.
About the European Film Academy Awards:
- founded in 1988, an annual award presented by the European Film Academy for outstanding achievements in European cinema;
- all awards relate exclusively to European films, directors and actors;
- the 39th awards ceremony will take place on 16 January 2027 in Athens.