A generation confronting their war trauma.
In the months leading up to the full-scale Russian invasion, five young Ukrainians prepare to stage a theatre production combining the core themes of Hamlet with their combat experiences in the ongoing war between the two countries since the revolution of 2014. This confronting yet crucial observational documentary captures with raw immediacy the testimony of a generation caught in the eye of the cyclone of history. Professional costume designers and actors who became medics and soldiers process their trauma through workshopping performances and sharing their brutal memories and physical scars. More than just therapeutic, the process is a transcendent exploration of whether to love or to hate, to forgive or to avenge, to live or to die.
“We came to the conclusion that the archetypal figure of Hamlet—a twenty-something boy whose life suddenly collides with a brutal struggle for power in his homeland—is a parallel for describing the dilemmas of a large part of the politically engaged young Ukrainian generation.” (Co-director Piotr Rosolowski)
Winner of the Golden Hobby-Horse, Krakow Film Festival (2022)
Winner, Roman Brodmann Prize, The Documentary House and Institute for Media and Communication Policy (2022).