Ukrainian film Viktor about deaf Kharkiv resident wins at SIMA Awards 2026

Viktor, a documentary created in cooperation between Ukraine, France, Denmark and the United States and directed by French filmmaker Olivier Sarbil, has won the Best Sound award at the 14th Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA 2026).

Source: SIMA

Details: The annual SIMA Awards celebrate filmmaking that addresses important social issues and shapes public discussion about human rights.

The organisers emphasised that this year's winning films demonstrate the power of documentary filmmaking to go beyond the screen and inspire social change.

What the film is about

The documentary follows Viktor Nikitenko, a deaf man living in Kharkiv, as he experiences the start of the full-scale war. Viktor wants to fight and makes several attempts to join the Ukrainian armed forces, but he is turned away each time.

The film shows how he tries to find his place in a reality in which he cannot hear, although he feels every consequence of it. The voiceover narration is based on personal diary entries that Viktor wrote in the first few months of the Russian invasion.

US filmmaker and Oscar nominee Darren Aronofsky (Protozoa Pictures) was one of the producers.

The world premiere took place at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024, where the film was selected for the Platform Prize competition section. Film critic Roger Ebert called Viktor "a truly singular experience worthy of its adulation".

About the director

Olivier Sarbil is a well-known documentary filmmaker and two-time Emmy winner who has worked in many countries around the world. In 2014-2015 he documented the war in Donbas after Russia's occupation of Crimea. He has also created documentary projects about conflicts in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.

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