Roman Liubyi was born into a family of visual artists in Kyiv, Ukraine. He studied arts at school and chose the theatre department. He got a degree from the I.K. Karpenko-Kary University of Theatre, Cinema and Television as a specialist in non-fiction film.
His participation in the Babylon’13 civil society cinema association since 2013 marked a huge leap in Roman’s professional life. During the Revolution of Dignity, the use of art as a tool for activism brought young filmmakers together with well-known and skilful people to exchange ideas and work together for the common cause.
His feature-length debut was War Note, made solely of personal recordings from the phones and GoPros of Ukrainian soldiers from 2014.
Another of Roman’s works is the digital set design of the Dogs of Europe theatre show, which premiered on London’s Barbican main stage in March 2022.
He has made two short documentaries from the materials of criminal cases about the major war crimes of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and this experience led to Iron Butterflies, a film about the downing of the MH17 passenger plane. This artistic documentary had its world premiere at Sundance 2023 (world documentary competition) and its European premiere at Berlinale 2023 (Panorama section).
