Crimea was the major wine-producing region in Ukraine until Russia annexed it in 2014. The country lost more than half its bottled wines, mostly semi-sweet and dessert wines. But the loss of Crimea and the armed conflict in the east ironically gave a giant push to Western-style dry wines, especially in Transcarpathia and the southern Odesa and Kherson regions.

The director and the crew wanted to learn more about these regions when they started filming in the Fall of 2021. But after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Wounded Land’s focus shifted quickly. They circled back to the vintners, farmers, and entrepreneurs who were so optimistic after emerging from the global pandemic to see how the war had affected their lives and businesses. While the central theme is producing wine during wartime, the secondary theme is victory, which all the main characters mention throughout the 54:50-minute documentary.

This event is co-sponsored by the Fletcher School at Tufts University and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.

More information here.