UCRAINA – 2021 – DCP – colore – 120’

Direction: Marian Bushan
Screenplay: Marian Bushan, Mykola Voronin
Cinematography: Kostiantyn Ponomarov
Editing: Yuriy Chashkovsky
Set design: Marian Bushan, Mykola Voronin
Music: Nadiia Odesiuk
Costumes: Olena Rukavishnikova
Cast: Pavlo Aldoshyn (Mykola), Maryna Koshkina (Nastya), Andrey Mostrenko (Cap), Roman Semysal (comandante di brigata), Oleg Drach (Syeryy), Roman Yasinovskiy (Klym), Oleg Shulga (Dunay), Vadim Lyalko (comandante del GRU), Vadim Kurilko (Hyurza), Vladyslav Dmytrenko (Malysh), Yevhen Voloshenyuk (Batyanya), Oleksandr Bykov (Thin), Egor Kozlov (Ivan), Zachary Shadrin (Taras), Demyan Radzivilyuk (operatore), Anatoly Tikhomirov (politologo), Yanina Sylenko (conduttrice talk show), Evhen Chernykov (rappresentante del quartier generale delle forze armate ucraine), Vitaliy Kovalskyy (cecchino russo), Vitaliy Belskyy (forze speciali russe)
Producer: Artem Denysov
Production: UM Group

SYNOPSIS

Year 2013. Mykola (35) is an eccentric pacifist who wants to be useful to humanity. He is conducting an environmental experiment – he lives with his pregnant wife Nastya (23) in his own dug Nora (eco-dugout) on two hectares of his own land near Horlivka (Donetsk region). Mykola teaches mathematics at Horlivka Vocational School, where he deals with difficult teenage students.
The war begins in the Donbass. Mykola’s naive world is collapsing, he feels powerless in the face of imminent threat – the militants kill his pregnant wife and burn his dug to the ground. He finds no excuse for this cruelty. After recovering, he makes a cardinal decision and gets enlisted in a sniper company, where he successfully completes tasks with instructor Cap (50).

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“In 2014, Russia started an “undeclared war” against Ukraine – it annexed Crimea and introduced Russian troops to Donbas (eastern Ukraine). At that time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not ready for the invasion of Russia, so there was an urgent need for desperate and highly motivated volunteer fighters.
Ukraine has plenty of stories about brave warriors, and among numerous examples, the story about a volunteer sniper – a former eco-pacifist from the outskirts of Horlivka, Donetsk region – Mykola Voronin caught my attention. This is a story about a physics teacher who wants to be useful to society. In search of a harmonious coexistence with nature, he conducts an experiment – he lives in an eco-earth without the harmful benefits of civilization. A pacifist believes that people still have a chance to become kinder to nature and to each other.
But the war begins in the East of Ukraine… It is Horlivka that becomes one of the first Ukrainian cities to be occupied by the enemy.
The ecopacifist could run for his life like most, but… his inner world was deeply shaken. He does not want to run away from the enemy, on the contrary – he wants to resist him, to be useful to his society in this war. The “pink” dreams of the pacifist remain in the past, he volunteers for the front line, having chosen the most difficult military profession for himself.”

FESTIVAL
2022 Molodist FF (gosted by Hamburg FF)