Ukrainian 11-year-old boy honoured with Cinema for Peace award in Berlin

Roman Oleksiv, 11, from Vinnytsia has received an award at the annual Cinema for Peace event held at the Berlin International Film Festival. He was awarded with the Cinema for Peace Honorary Dove 2026 for featuring in the documentary Children in the Fire directed by Evgeny Afineevsky.

Source: Roman Oleksiv on Facebook

Details: The documentary tells the story of Roman, who suffered severe injuries in a Russian missile strike on the city of Vinnytsia in July 2022. His mother was killed. Roman sustained extensive burns, underwent dozens of operations and spent a long period in rehabilitation abroad. He has returned to school, resumed music lessons and began public appearances in which he shares his story.

Children in the Fire was shortlisted in the Most Valuable Documentary Film of the Year category alongside 2000 Meters to Andriivka by Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov and nine other works.

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was among the guests. Afineevsky presented her with a scarf by a Ukrainian brand featuring children's drawings.

Cinema for Peace has been held since September 2001. Each year it honours films and individuals for contributions to reporting on wars and humanitarian crises and for efforts to defend human rights.

In 2008, the initiative led to the creation of the Cinema for Peace Foundation, an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation based in Berlin and dedicated to "driving change through films capable of changing perspectives and bringing hope to its audiences".

In recent years, Cinema for Peace has supported a number of major initiatives and films, working with artists such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Charlize Theron, and Nicole Kidman. It has also worked with prominent figures such as The Dalai Lama, Muhammad Ali, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Nelson Mandela.

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