WSZYSTKO MA ŻYĆ

EVERYTHING NEEDS TO LIVE — Poland, Ukraine 2024 — Directed by: Andrii Lytvynenko, Tetiana Dorodnitsyna — 70 min — Spoken language: Ukrainian — Subtitles: English — Production Company: Aura Films — Producer: Anna Blawut Mazurkiewicz

When the whole world around her plunges into darkness, Anna Kurkurina, the strongest woman in the world, decides to stay in Ukraine to save the most vulnerable ones: the animals.

Everything Needs to Live portrays the unusual daily life of Anna Kurkurina, a charismatic athlete, ‘the strongest woman in the world’, an animal activist and an out lesbian. Already at an early age, Anna proved to have a unique bond with animals. She taught biology at school, worked at the local zoo where she made friends with a lion, helped to set up animal shelters and tried to find new homes for dozens of stray animals. At the age of forty, she decided to pursue a career as a powerlifter and soon made it to the top by becoming a triple world champion. She also started to work as a coach of young people with disabilities. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Anna has been using the power of her popularity as an athlete and a social media influencer to help injured and abandoned animals, following her motto: 'Whoever saves one life, saves the whole world.

Original Title: WSZYSTKO MA ŻYĆ. English Title: EVERYTHING NEEDS TO LIVE. Director: Andrii Lytvynenko, Tetiana Dorodnitsyna. Writer: Tetiana Dorodnitsyna, Andrii Lytvynenko. Camera: Tetiana Dorodnitsyna, Ivan Selistran. Sound: Ksenia Vinogradova, Michał Fojcik, Nataliia Avramenko. Editing: Piotr Ogiński, Tetiana Dorodnitsyna. Music: Tumult. Production: Aura Films sp. z o.o.

Festivals & Awards

  • 64th Krakow Film Festival (2024), Poland – Audience Award, Polish Producers Alliance Award

  • 21st Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (2024), Ukraine – RIGHTS NOW! Award, Audience Award

  • 27th One World International Human Rights Film Festival (2025), Czechia – Nomination: Václav Havel Special Award

  • ArtDocFest/Riga (2025), Latvia – Best Director

  • 25th goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film (2025), Germany – Best Documentary Film

  • Docs Ireland International Documentary Film Festival (2025), Ireland – Screening

  • 22nd Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (2025), Hungary – Ukrainian Panorama

  • 20th DocsMX – International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City (2025), Mexico – Special Mention

  • Matsalu Nature Film Festival (2025), Estonia

  • 44th Cambridge Film Festival (2025), United Kingdom

  • 21st Frozen River Film Festival (2026), USA

  • Queer Film Festival Kathmandu (2026), Nepal

  • Cinema Ost Film Days (2026), Germany – Screening

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