Director Ganna Yarovenko’s Powerful Documentary MAMA’S VOICE

World Premiere at La femme International Film Festival October 18th

LOS ANGELES, October 2025– MAMA’S VOICE, a beautifully told story of families bonding together during a time of war, will have its world premiere at the 21st La Femme International Film Festival on October 18th.

Written and directed by Ganna Yarovenko and produced by Larysa Larovenko, Yarovenko’s sister and producing partner, and Dmytro Konovalov. The documentary is set in the early days of the Russo Ukrainian war, when Ganna finds refuge in Poland with her children and mother. There they are taken in by Kaja’s family, while Yarovenko’s father and husband remain in a Russian occupied village near Kyiv.

Mothers uniting against the backdrop of war

MAMA’S VOICE is a microcosm of the war’s impact on one Ukrainian family and a reflection on their enduring ties to the motherland, those who fled, those who stayed and what binds them together. After Ganna and her family escape to Poland, they meet Kaja and her family. What ensues is the deep bond the two mothers develop that helps Ganna to confront trauma, loss, and the horrors of war.

Director Yarovenko shares, “I have lost my voice twice, first after throat surgery, and again on February 24, 2022, during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As the occupying forces closed in on our home, I grabbed my children and fled to Poland, fearing for their safety. There, I met Kaja, an artist, singer, and mother of five, who welcomed us as family in their home. Through her friendship, I found my voice again. This film is my diary of those first months of war.”

A labor of love

Mama’s Voice is an intimate portrait of a displaced Ukrainian family during the first months of the Russian invasion. The film began as a family project with a minimal budget after Ganna Yarovenko became a refugee in Poland. Her sister Larysa, based in Canada, took on the role of producer. In March 2024, the project won the Grand Prix in the pitching competition at Artdocfest in Riga, Latvia. Filmed in Mława, Poland, and Zabuchchia, Ukraine, between April and June 2022.

Ganna Yarovenko, born in 1974 in Kyiv, Ukraine (then USSR), is a Ukrainian director, screenwriter, journalist, cinematographer, and editor. She graduated from the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (1996) and from the Karpenko-Kary State Institute of Film and Theatre Arts (1999), with a degree in documentary film directing. Since 2000, she has been a member of the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, and since 2016, a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy. Since February 26, 2022, Ganna has been living in Poland with her mother and children.