THERE WILL BE NO LESSONS TODAY AND TOMORROW
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As soon as the school year starts, seniors of a high school in Chernihiv start preparing for the graduation, about which they dreamed so much. They are sewing dresses, learning to dance the school waltz. Yet the russian full-scale invasion into Ukraine tears their plans apart. Teenagers and their relatives hide in basements, live in fear and total uncertainty. Some try to leave the city, but the evacuation convoys are shot. Chernihiv is under siege for one month, one week and one day. The city is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe, many civilians die from shelling.
The russian troops retreat – finally silence falls. The city is coming to its senses after the horror it lived through. High school seniors are trying to render why the russians destroyed their lives and homes. Young people change during the war: now they love their country and city more, appreciate small things, decide to use Ukrainian language for conversations since they understand that language is a marker of identity, and no longer want to share anything with russians. Seniors continue to rehearse and realize their dream – dancing the waltz in Chernihiv, their homeland.
The documentary film There will be no lessons today and tomorrow portrays a generation of young Ukrainians who dreamed of a bright future, but found themselves in the melting-pot of the great war.
Director – operator – Sashko Brama
Producer – Lyuda Batalova
Operators –Lyuda Batalova, Iryna Stepaniak, Viacheslav Korbut
Drivers – Max Kylymnyk, Iryna Stepaniak
The film stars: Anastasiia Naumenko, Daryna Mala, Karina Kormilitsyna, Anna Hapon, Ivanna Solovei, Anastasiia Gerasymenko, Artem Khrystenko, Viktor Trukhan, Mykhailo Mashchenko.
Supported by Documenting Ukraine (IWM), One World Media’s Global Short Docs Forum 2023, Renaissance Foundation.
Partners: NZZ Format (Switzerland), Lyfta (Great Britain), OKO.press (Poland), Polish-German Cooperation Foundation
We would like to thank the Symbolum Sacrum residence, Oleksiy Solovyov, Lisya Yafet, Rosemary Olufemi, Lali Houghton, Jesper Osmund, Flora Gregory, Dominique Young, Markus Stein, Chernihiv School № 34.