At Cannes, Polish filmmaker’s ‘In the Rearview’ spotlights Ukrainians escaping war

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — When Polish filmmaker Maciek Hamela first began evacuating Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s all-out war on their country, he wasn’t intending to make a film. He was one of the many Poles extending humanitarian aid to neighbors under attack, and had turned down an offer to film a television investigation there. But the reflections of the people he was transporting to safety in his van were so poignant that soon he began filming them. The result is “In the Rearview,” a documentary film being shown at the Cannes film festival in France as part of a parallel program devoted to independent cinema. It is not in competition.