The Paramount+ original documentary Superpower, the once launched last year on Paramount + by co-directors Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman, today begins airing on YouTube. All you’ve got to pay is attention. The deal allows audiences across YouTube’s massive footprint to watch the moving story centered on Ukraine’s fight to maintain freedom from Russia.
Superpower is a heart-wrenching glimpse into a country fighting for its freedom, featuring a series of intimate interviews done by Penn with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and others from seven trips over nearly a two-year period.
“Rarely do you get to be an eyewitness to history as (Sean) Penn did with President Zelensky in his bunker as Russian bombs exploded over Kyiv,” says Susan Zirinsky, President of See it Now Studios. “The film is so powerful and immersive because of Penn’s journey meeting families who have lost everything, bombed out apartments, schools and to the front lines where soldiers were putting their lives on the line. Penn understands that the world had changed.”
Paramount+
Said Penn: “To make this film available for free has been my dream from the beginning and I’m incredibly grateful to so many colleagues for their will and grace to make this happen. Ukraine’s fight for democracy is our fight too.”
Back when the film began production in late 2021, it was a somewhat light-hearted project on Zelensky’s transformation from popular comedic actor to the Presidency. But when the buildup of Russian Troops on Ukraine’s border began, the tone of the film took on a life of its own. On February 24, 2022, while the crew were preparing their first on-camera interviews with Zelensky, Russia invaded and attacked the capital. The filmmakers pivoted and Superpower suddenly became a firsthand look at a wartime President and his country’s historic defense of its freedom against the threat of the bloodiest invasion in Europe since World War II. The filmmakers intention became to show that the title refers to the strength of its leader, its people, and ultimately its heart.
Fifth Season and Vice Studios financed the film. It was produced by Vice Studios, Projected Picture Works and See It Now Studios, and the producers and EPs are Penn, Billy Smith, Sergei Bespalov, Danny Gabai and Lauren Terp. Kate Ward, Katie Peck, Andrew Freston, Bruce Dixon, Hozefa Lokhandwala, Subrata De, Susan Zirinsky, Terence Wrong, Anthony Gudas, Chad A. Verdi and Sasha Cherniavsky.
The documentary will run for a full year on YouTube, and is available in the United States and its territories including Bermuda for free on the official Paramount+ YouTube channel.