Standing Free: A Young Filmmaker’s Journey Into Ukraine’s Front Lines

In this interview, filmmaker Maxim Khomenko talks about Standing Free , his debut documentary filmed in Ukraine during Russia’s full‑scale invasion. Born and raised in Canada into a Ukrainian family from Kyiv, Max describes returning to a country at war, seeing his family home destroyed by russian missiles, travelling alone into active combat zones, surviving nearby strikes, and filming evacuations and frontline life with Ukrainian soldiers. He reflects on the unity he witnessed, the role of humour and resilience, and the painful reality that some of the people in his film did not live to see it completed. Max also outlines the practical side of the project: building a small international crew, securing financial support, and carrying bags of medical supplies and equipment into Ukraine on each trip. Listeners will come away with a deeper sense of the film’s perspective — and the meaning behind its title, Standing Free . Full transcript at the Nash Holos website . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to Standing Free: A Young Filmmaker’s Journey Into Ukraine’s Front Lines online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Standing Free: A Young Filmmaker’s Journey Into Ukraine’s Front Lines is an episode from Ukrainian Roots Radio by Paulette MacQuarrie.

This episode is 38:47 long.

This episode was published on Mar 13, 2026.

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