[6][7] At Cannes, Loznitsa won the Un Certain Regard award for Best Director, as well as the Silver Pyramid at the 40th Cairo International Film Festival.

The storylines are reconstructions of real events recorded in professional reports, amateur YouTube videos, and memories of local residents.

For example, in one scene, a German journalist and a Ukrainian cameraman meet with Russian soldiers who wear no insignia and pretend to be Donetsk militia.

[13] A grotesque episode with a solemn event at the Novorossiysk registry office represents the wedding of the militia members "Kukla" and "BMW".

[17] Filming began on February 8, 2018, on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih in the Ternivka district of the Dnipro region and lasted for 4 days.