Liev Schreiber has come on board to narrate a documentary with the working title Against All Odds: The Failure Of Russia’s Blitzkrieg, about the first months of the invasion of Ukraine.
The film from Organization of Ukrainian Producers and indie producer Gingers Media chronicles the initial destruction of Ukraine by Russia’s military forces, and is directed by Artem Litvinenko, who helmed the Ukrainian Netflix series The Sniffer.
Schreiber’s narration of Against All Odds is part of his ongoing fundraising efforts for Ukraine. Igor Storchak, executive producer of the documentary, said Schreiber didn’t have any payment on his mind when he joined the project.
“He asked to be able to screen Against All Odds for fundraising purposes to help my country and her people. It touched us all deeply, the director and the producers, because it means that our values are shared with millions of people all over the world. It gives us hope,” Storchak said in a statement.
Schreiber also co-launched BlueCheck Ukraine, an initiative channeling critical financial support to Ukrainian aid groups. Director Lytvynenko added Schreiber recently visited Kyiv to witness the destruction of that city at the hands of invading Russian forces.
“He understands what he is narrating about quite well. Liev tried to remain unbiased in his narration and refrain from imposing his own emotions onto the viewer. He was also involved in the text adaptation to make it more dynamic and relatable to an English speaking audience,” Lytvynenko added in his own statement.
For Schreiber, who was born in the U.S., but has family ties to Ukraine, the narration, recorded at Mirrortone Studios in New York City, aimed at a simple chronology of the invasion. “It is hard to believe that in our lifetimes we would ever witness a ground war like this again, so to see its evolution in vivid detail is an invaluable reminder of the fragility of our democracy and the ferocity with which the Ukrainians defended their own”, Schreiber said in a statement.
Schreiber directed and co-wrote the 2005 film Everything is Illuminated, which portrayed a young Jewish American man on a search for those who saved his grandfather in a Ukrainian village during the Second World War.
The filmmaking team behind Against All Odds spoke to survivors of the ongoing Russian invasion in Kyiv and additional Ukrainian cities like Hostomel, Irpin and Moschun. The documentary, now in its final stages of post production, is aiming to be released in 2023.
The Organization of Ukrainian Producers has already released other films about an embattled Ukraine, including Mariupol: Unlost Hope, Nine Lives, HopeBahnhof. Berlin and A Home Lost.
