Paris, 2018: a young woman wanders through the streets. Her eyes bear the weight of years of resistance, her body is the archive of a radical life. The woman’s name is Oksana Shachko. Artist, activist, co-founder of the feminist protest movement FEMEN. And she is the main character in Charlène Favier’s new feature film “OXANA – MY LIFE FOR FREEDOM”, which opens nationwide on July 24, 2025.
The body as a canvas for political messages
What happens when art is not only beautiful, but necessary? When your own body becomes the last weapon against an overpowering system? Oksana Shachko answered these questions with uncompromising courage: she painted her exposed upper body with slogans against sexism, corruption and violence. With bare skin but a sharp message, she broke through the wall of silence of patriarchal regimes – in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
The film shows not only a historical figure, but also the inner life of a woman who oscillated between spiritual search, revolutionary rage and artistic passion. Director Charlène Favier succeeds in creating a sensitive, deeply political portrait that is stirring – and has a lasting effect.
A story that speaks to the now
OXANA is not a retrospective. The film is a wake-up call at a time when authoritarian forces are gaining strength worldwide. When Oksana demonstrated with FEMEN against Putin and Lukashenko in 2009, this scene is frighteningly topical today. The film confronts us with the question: how much are we prepared to risk when human rights are once again at stake?
Favier does not rely on pathos, but on intimacy. The film accompanies Oksana through her last day in Paris, interweaving fragments of memories with encounters, allowing pain and hope to merge in a dense atmosphere. The leading actress Albina Korzh embodies Oksana with a shattering presence – raw, tender, angry. A performance that stays with you.
Iconography, light and canvas as resistance
Visually, OXANA resembles a painting. Favier, whose mother is a painter, and her team create images that oscillate between Christian iconography and modern art. Each scene is carefully composed – not as an end in itself, but as a tribute to a woman who used art as a weapon.
Oxana’s relationship to religion is not left out. Growing up in the Orthodox faith, disappointed by the church and yet deeply spiritual – this is also part of the inner tension that the film makes impressively visible. The combination of faith, rebellion and self-empowerment runs through the work like a common thread.
FEMEN: Protest in a world that prefers to look the other way
The film also tells the story of FEMEN – a movement that both shocked and fascinated the global public. Their form of protest: topless demonstrations with a radical message. Their opponents: churches, dictators, Western ignorance.
But OXANA goes deeper. It shows what it means to be persecuted, to go into exile in France – and still carry on. It shows the powerlessness when the fight is no longer seen. And it shows the moment when a woman realizes that the world she was fighting for was perhaps never really ready to understand her.
Why you have to see this movie
Because you will realize that activism can be a lonely path. Because you will experience how pain becomes art. And because you will feel how close a woman you have never met can get to you.
OXANA – MY LIFE FOR FREEDOM is a movie for everyone who wonders how change begins – and what it costs. It is an invitation to sharpen your focus. And perhaps: to take the first step yourself.
About the author
Kinga Bartczak advises, coaches and writes on female empowerment, new work culture, organizational development, systemic coaching and personal branding. She is also the managing director of UnternehmerRebellen GmbH and publisher of the FemalExperts magazine .
