fiction feature film
Despite his lack of experience, Ivan, the protagonist, tries to join a combat unit on February 24, 2022. His mother refuses to evacuate without him. Nevertheless, Ivan goes to Mariupol, where his friend Serhii serves.
Ivan arrives in Mariupol. The train station comes under fire. While Ivan froze in shock, an ambulance arrives. A female paramedic Vovchok exits the ambulance and begins to manage the evacuation of the wounded.
Having reached Serhii’s unit, Ivan learns from Commander Nazar that his friend has been killed. Ivan stays with this unit, helping out as a volunteer and gaining military experience.
As the enemy surrounds the city, the units flock to Azovstal. There, Ivan meets Vovchok again, who helps the surgeon. After a successful outing with Nazar's group, Ivan is injured and Vovchok takes care of him.
Nazar courts Volchok, and jealousy leads to a fight between the commander and Ivan. They are separated, Vovchok wipes Ivan's blood with wet wipes, they begin to caress each other and make love.
While having a walk with Ivan around Azovstal, Vovchok jumps poorly and breaks her leg. Sepsis spreads, and Ivan joins Nazar’s group in order to break through the encirclement and bring antibiotics for his beloved.
During the mission, almost everyone is killed, Nazar gets seriously wounded, and only Ivan remains unharmed. Ivan decides to carry the wounded man, but when he turns away, Nazar shoots at himself.
Vovchok is getting worse, the surgeon amputates her leg.
Reaching Ukrainian positions, Ivan is captured as a suspicious person. He is released by a Ukrainian counterintelligence officer who takes Ivan to Kyiv as a hero and informs him that there will be neither evacuation from Azovstal, nor a breakthrough, and the garrison will be forced to surrender. Having made a detour to visit his mother in his hometown, Ivan sees the destroyed entrance of their house and learns that his mother is no more. He buys antibiotics at the pharmacy and decides to return to Azovstal.
Having changed into a Russian uniform, Ivan goes to the works and meets with Vovchok. With the majority of the unsurrendered garrison by their side, the couple celebrates their wedding.
The surviving defenders of Azovstal leave their dungeon to forcibly surrender to the Russian invaders. Russian military begins a rough mass inspection and distributes captured Ukrainians into buses.
PROJECT TEAM
OLEH SENTSOV, scriptwriter
His first feature film, Gamer, premiered internationally at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2012 and has since entered over 30 international film festivals.
His crime drama Rhino (2021), the first film he made after leaving Russian prison, took part in the official selection of the Venice IFF, won the Grand Prix at the Stockholm Film Festival, and entered more than 20 international festivals around the world. The film was purchased by the key countries of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, became a box office hit in Ukraine, and was acquired by Netflix for the territories of the former USSR.
Filmography
2008: A Perfect Day for Banana Fish, short film
2009: Horn of a Bull, short film
2011: Gamer, feature film, screenwriter and director)
2020: Numbers (full-length, screenwriter, core director)
2021: Rhino (full-length, screenwriter and director)
DENYS IVANOV, producer
As a producer, he has made 8 full-length films and over 40 short films.
The Tribe by Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi won the Grand Prix of the Cannes Critics' Week in 2014 and was released in more than 40 countries.
Donbas by Serhii Loznytsia won the Un Certain Regard award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018.
Cenzorka / 107 Mothers (2021) was screened in the Horizons program of the Venice IFF and won the award for Best Screenplay.
The recent work of Oleh Sentsov, Rhino (2021), premiered in the official selection of the Venice IFF and won the Grand Prix of the Stockholm Film Festival.
Filmography:
Stolnya (2006), dir. Lyubomyr Kobylchuk-Levytskyi
Green Jacket (2013), dir. Volodymyr Tykhyi
The Tribe (2014), dir. Miroslav Slaboshpytskyi
Black Level (2017), dir. Valentyn Vasyanovych
Donbas (2018), dir. Serhii Loznytsia
Polina and the Mystery of a Film Studio (2019), dir. Olias Barco
Cenzorka / 107 Mothers (2021), dir. Peter Kerekes
Rhino (2021), dir. Oleh Sentsov
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