One year ago, Kamloops gathered in a university classroom to bear witness. We watched Standing Free together, asked Maxim Khomenko our questions, and turned a documentary screening into direct support for Ukraine. That evening, the distance between Kamloops and the frontlines disappeared for two hours.
On Friday, June 12, 2026, it disappears again. And this year, the evening opens with a sound that has carried Ukrainian stories for centuries: the bandura.
📅 Friday, June 12, 2026 🕡 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm 📍 Thompson Rivers University 🎟️ Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/standing-free-kamloops-tickets-1989416105124 🎬 Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/_Bw_EUwUjxE
A film made at the cost of real risk
Standing Free is the debut feature by Ukrainian-Canadian director Maxim Khomenko, a deeply personal war documentary filmed across Ukraine over three separate visits during the ongoing full-scale invasion. Through the eyes of children, civilians, and soldiers, Maxim captures the human cost of Russian aggression, and his own journey through war-torn Ukraine.
He risked his life to make this film. It features frontline footage from Eastern Ukraine, filmed while embedded with the International Legion, the 3rd Assault Brigade, Azov, the 1st Presidential Brigade, and the 95th Air Assault Brigade. This is not war as a distant headline. It is war as the people living it see it.
Supported in part by the Shevchenko Foundation, Standing Free has already screened in five countries as a short documentary, raising funds for Ukrainian peacekeeping and humanitarian initiatives along the way. Maxim’s four-year dedication to this project earned him the United Nations Association in Canada’s John Gibbard Humanitarian Award in 2023. Now the full feature comes home to Kamloops.
What makes this evening special
🪕 Live bandura music. Before the screening, our local bandura ensemble KUBE will perform a couple of songs on Ukraine’s beloved national instrument. The bandura has voiced Ukrainian memory, resistance, and hope for generations, and hearing its strings in a Kamloops theatre is the perfect way to enter the world of this film. Come a little early; you will not want to miss it.
🎤 A director Q&A. After the credits, Maxim joins the audience for behind-the-scenes insight into filming on Ukraine’s front lines: what it takes to carry a camera where most people cannot go, and what he wants the world to understand about the people he filmed.
💙 A live auction. Every dollar raised supports humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Your evening at the theatre becomes warmth, medicine, and hope for people who need it most.
Why come, and why bring someone with you
It is easy, in the fifth year of full-scale war, to let the headlines blur. Standing Free exists to cut through that. It reminds us that behind every news report is a child, a parent, a neighbour, a soldier who was a civilian not long ago. Bearing witness is not a passive act. It is how communities like ours stay connected to the people standing free on the other side of the world, and it is how we turn compassion into concrete support.
Our community has stood with Ukraine every Saturday near Kamloops City Hall since February 2022. Evenings like this one are part of the same promise: we do not look away.
Get your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/standing-free-kamloops-tickets-1989416105124
Come on out, meet film director Max Khomenko, see what is going on in Ukraine, and show your support. An evening of truth, resilience, and remembrance. Bring a friend. Stand with Ukraine.
Presented by Dia Productions Inc.
#StandingFree #StandWithUkraine #UkraineCanada #Kamloops
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