Crossfire

Crossfire is a documentary investigating the death of Italian photographer Andrea Rocchelli and Russian journalist and interpreter Andrei Mironov on May 24, 2014, near then-occupied Sloviansk (Ukraine) by pro-Russian forces, and the subsequent arrest and controversial trial in Italy of Ukrainian National Guardsman Vitaly Markiv.

A tragedy unfolding in a war zone disputed between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatist militiamen
A few photographs, a video of a shooting and a soldier sentenced to 24 years in prison remain of those dramatic events.
It seems to be a closed case but, from the papers of that trial, an investigation work that lasted almost two years was born.
A trench on a hill, a story with too many uncertainties. In the testimonies, in the reconstruction. No verification or investigation was done on the ground. Pro-Russian propaganda making inroads into Italian politics and media.
A team of journalists goes back to those places to try to understand how things happened. Point by point: visibility, distances, shooting tests, reconstruction with scientific techniques of the characteristics of the crime scene.
Key witnesses never sought are found.
A job as accurate as possible that ends up calling into question the truth of the trial.
Dozens of interviews, hours of footage and archive material, special consultants, lawyers, and military experts. A film that continues to this day, with the Russian invasion and the Ukrainian people's strenuous will to resist.

  • Cristiano Tinazzi
    Director
  • Cristiano Tinazzi
    Writer
  • Cristiano Tinazzi
    Producer
  • Ruben Lagattolla
    Director of photography
    Young Syrian Lenses
  • Marco Pedrazzi
    Composer
    The forgotten front
  • Gianluca Gaiba
    Composer
  • Franco Zambon
    Camera and Electric department
  • Chiara Ingrati
    Camera and Electric department
  • Giorgia Amodio
    Camera and Electric department
  • Valentino Corvino
    Music Department
  • Sebastiano Sivieri
    Music Department
  • Ivan Yasniy
    Archival cinematography
    The Myth
  • Denis Slepov
    additional camera operator
  • Diego Schiavo
    Sound design
    Il conte magico
  • Michele Cirillo
    Graphic animations
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Drama, Crime, Legal
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 20 minutes 2 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    80,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    France, Italy, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Ukraine
  • Language:
    English, French, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Cristiano Tinazzi

Born in 1972, I start to work as a journalist in 2004, after my Degree in history, at ‘Università Statale di Milano’, Italy.
In 2006, I’ve covered the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. After that, I went to Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Lebanon.
Since 2011 I have focused on the Arab Spring First in Tunisia, then, covering the civil war in Libya, reporting from Tripoli for almost seven months.
In 2012 I went several times to Syria, producing written reportages and video documentaries on both sides, shooting in participation with other colleagues, for the Italian State Television (RAI) the documentary “Syria 2.0 – The battle for Aleppo” (finalist at the Al-Jazeera film festival in Doha 2012, Qatar).
Later my name appears on the Assad regime’s blacklist for crossing the Turkish border illegally.
In 2013 I worked in Iraq, covering the news in Egypt about the coup d’etat against president Morsi and later along the Nile, reporting the attacks on Egypt’s Christians.
In 2014 I was again in Iraq, doing some reportage in Krg about Isis military advance and focusing on refugees and the Yazidi persecution.
After I went to the border with Kobane (the Isis siege), Tunisia (jihadists issues and migration) Libya (2015) Ukraine, covering the war in Donbas on the two sides with a focus on the International pro-separatist fighters (2015), again second war in Libya (2016), the rape of war in South Sudan and refugees issues (2016), the Isis
expansion in Mindanao island (The Marawi Battle) and the case of extrajudicial killings in Manila (Philippines), the Mosul battle (2016-2017) in Iraq, again in Ukraine in 2017 and 2018 and after in Brazil covering the crime battles and infightings in Rio de Janeiro and against the special police forces.
In 2019/2020 I realized tv reports from Senegal, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Northern Ireland, Russia and Italy.
From February 2022 I spent more than six months in Ukraine, covering the war on the front line and the situation of civilians.

This is my first feature length documentary

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

As a journalist I have travelled for years both in European and extra-European contexts, especially on the southern side of the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, dealing with sensitive issues such as integration, migration, terrorism, and conflicts.
I have a strong curiosity for everything related to foreign policy, but also an anthropological approach to different realities, customs and traditions. I have worked a lot in the television field, making reports of an average length of twenty minutes or less, but my desire has always been to work on a subject in depth more cinematic, and this story has totally involved me for more than three years.