Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole wins the Sunny Side of the Doc Prize at East Doc Platform 2025

East Doc Platform 2025 took place at the French Institute in Prague, from March 13-19, organized by the Institute of Documentary Film. On this occasion, our team presented the Sunny Side of the Doc award to one of the selected projects for East Doc Platform 2025.

Sunny Side of the Doc was honoured to award its Special Prize to the project: Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole, directed by Tetiana Khodakivska and produced by Pronto Film (Ukraine).

Aurélie Reman, Managing Director of Sunny Side of the Doc: "In awarding 'The Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole,' we recognize a vital documentary of an unfolding tragedy. This project courageously confronts the reality of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine—not through battlefield footage, but through the eyes of its youngest victims. By transforming children's traumatic experiences into animated testimony, the filmmakers create something uniquely powerful: a witness statement that is both accessible and devastating. At Sunny Side of the Doc, we fulfill our mission by supporting and encouraging international collaborations around these urgent narratives that give voice to stories the world needs to hear and see." Aurélie Reman, Managing Director of Sunny Side of the Doc

© Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole

Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole is a coming-of-age story about Ukrainian children Taisa (15) and Kyrylo (12) who went through a detention in Russian re-education camps and, after being rescued, are trying to make sense of what has happened. What seems at first like cheerful summer activities and a thrilling time without parents shifts to evoking memories of propaganda events, punishments, isolation, stays in psychiatric clinics, and military training. Collaborating with filmmakers to draw their memories, the children use art to unfold their memories, to heal and to reflect what is real. As the camp events advance in humorous animation, the director confronts her own memories of similar indoctrination during her childhood in Soviet schools and camps, adding a deeply personal touch and historical perspective. The ironic animated scenes immerse the viewer into the shifting identity experiences exploring the theme of belonging and reflecting the role of misinformation in society through time.

 

About East Doc Platform

East Doc Platform is the largest co-production, funding and distribution platform tailor-made for Central and East European documentaries, every year connecting East European filmmakers and decision makers - producers, broadcasters, distributors and festival programmers - from around the world. 

This year's East Doc Platform theme, Still Human?, explored the fragile intersection of humanity and technology. Artificial intelligence, digital manipulation, and algorithm-driven realities are reshaping our world—sometimes as tools for progress, sometimes as forces of dehumanization. What does it mean to be human in an age of automation?