The premiere screening of a film about the Church's help in Donbas took place in Moscow.

On June 30, 2026, the Moscow premiere of the film "Out of the Comfort Zone" about the ministry of sisters of mercy and church volunteers in the conflict zone took place at the Cinema Park Mosfilm cinema. The film was shot by the Lendok Film Studio with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.
"No one is left alone in this picture. Even in the most difficult conditions, a person is able to take care of others," Archpriest Mikhail Potokin, chairman of the Synodal Department for Charity, said during the discussion of the film. "It is this unity, the ability to have compassion, sacrifice one's own and sincerely serve one's neighbor that gives a person the most important thing — hope and faith that God is with him."
The film focuses on the fate of people who have left their comfort zone and left a quiet life to be with those who are having a hard time.
"This is necessary to help not only the injured people, but also ourselves. Because when we see firsthand what people are going through, we become deeper and more honest," Natalia Letavina, head of the Development Department of the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission, said during the discussion of the film. — More than 7.5 thousand volunteers from different cities have already traveled to Donbass from the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission. I want even more volunteers to come and more people to receive this help."
The film features the stories of Efrosinia Morozova, a graduate of St. Demetrius College of Sisters of Mercy, who has been working at the Rostov hospital for several years, and Irina Khudyakova, a sister of mercy of the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission, who left Moscow to care for injured civilians.
"In volunteering, a person can really prove himself. You come to a place where you are valued by your very presence," Irina Khudyakova, Sister of Mercy of the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission, said during the discussion of the film. "That's where you become yourself and give people exactly what they need."
The film captures the work of the church relief center in Mariupol, the activities of volunteer repair workers to rebuild damaged civilian homes, and church volunteers who care for the elderly and the wounded in hospitals.
"And maybe the main thing that we discovered ourselves while making this picture is the kinship that is born in challenging situations," said Maxim Yakubson (Korolenko), the film's director, member of the Russian Cinematographers Union, senior lecturer at the Documentary Film Directing Department at the St. Petersburg State Institute of Film and Television. — When people don't run away from them, but try to remain human in these difficult conditions. Do what is necessary. For those who need help, who are having a hard time."
The Synodal Department for Charity expresses its gratitude to the Mosfilm film concern and the general director of the film concern, Karen Shakhnazarov, the Synodal Department for Church-Society and Media Relations and the chairman of the department, Vladimir Legoyda, for their assistance and the opportunity to organize the screening of the film in the main Mosfilm cinema.