Ukrainian Animated Film 'My Grandmother is a Skydiver' Selected for Cannes
Ukrainian animated short My Grandmother is a Skydiver, directed by Polina Piddubna, has been selected for the prestigious La Cinef section at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, The Gaze reports, citing DetectorMedia.
La Cinef is an official section of the Cannes Film Festival dedicated to showcasing student films from around the world. Out of more than 2,700 submissions, only 19 films were selected—16 live-action and just three animated shorts, including Piddubna’s work.
The film tells the personal story of the director’s grandmother, Alfiia, a native of Kharkiv who refused to evacuate following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Through this deeply personal lens, the animation explores themes of ethnic identity, generational trauma, and the search for life’s meaning.
“I began research for this project in early 2022, driven by an interest in my grandmother’s life as a young, progressive woman from Central Asia, and the broader development of feminism in the region,” said Piddubna.
After Russia’s invasion and its direct impact on Kharkiv and Piddubna’s family, the film’s narrative gained additional layers of urgency and political relevance.
“The colonial legacy of the aggressor state stretches back centuries, affecting Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central and Northern Asia. Countless cultures, languages, and ethnic groups have suffered and continue to face oppression. These issues remain largely undiscussed; our stories are often overlooked by the international community,” she said.
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