Sonata about the artist

During the period of the 20-30s of the twentieth century, Ukrainian culture experienced its formation, flourishing and tragic finale. The three-part documentary tells about the shares of Vladimir Sosyura, Pavel Ticini, Nikolai Fitilev, Les Kurbas, Nikolai Kulish, Mikhail Boychuk and Alexander Dovzhenko. The film uses a chronicle of that time, the authors visited the places where the events of this dark era for Ukraine unfolded, and in numerous museums that have preserved materials, papers and evidence of those years.

On a stopover in Moscow, a young writer Volodya makes friends with Kolya, who is returning home from a hard night shift. Just as Kolya is about to take a rest, he is met by his old friend Sasha, who wants help getting a deferral from military service so that he can get married.

Platon Smolyak, the director of the industrial complex, decides to begin land restoration work following an accident at the quarry, but he faces resistance from members of the city party committee bureau. The workers support him, arguing that the cause was a shift in the soil rather than any failure on his part. Zhulai calls for a thorough analysis of the situation before a decision is made.

The protests in Donbas began in July 1989, with over a hundred mines ceasing operations. Within a week, the miners’ strike became the subject of a special television address by Mikhail Gorbachev. Representatives of the Strike Committee were invited to Moscow for negotiations, where all their demands were temporarily met. Alongside the unfolding strike and miners’ speeches in Donetsk’s square, the filmmakers observe the impoverished living conditions of the miners and the harsh working conditions at the Mine of Lidiievka.

An accident at the Pochenkov’s Mine in February 1990 resulted in the death of 13 miners. Since the summer protests, the real situation on the ground in the mines had not changed, leading to a second wave of miners’ protests in 1990–1991. This time, the miners’ slogans included political demands, such as the decommunization of power and the independence of Ukraine. Representatives of the miners met with Communist officials, including the last First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Stanislav Hurenko, and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Nikolai Ryzhkov. The August coup and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union were met by the Donbas miners in strike committees.