Malanka. To Save Home

The story of the everyday life of one of the most unknown countries on the European continent. The film tells the stories of heroes from different parts of Ukraine, their life and life, crafts and art, interesting initiatives and culture. The characters of this film are not interconnected, their worlds are different, however, this difference unites the country.

After escaping the russia's occupation, a mother of many children struggles to keep her family together, trying to build a “normal life” on the ruins of a destroyed world — and gradually discovers that normality no longer means peace, but only the ability to go on living, to love, and not to lose herself.

With signing visa-free regime in 2017 between Ukraine and European Union the borders become open for the first time in 100 years and 79-years old self-taught artist gets a chance to accomplish his old dream and to set off on his first journey to Greece which he could only imagine from books and movies.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has changed the lives of every Ukrainian. Formerly bankers, IT workers, cultural figures and others have become military personnel and volunteers, people resisting the greatest threat to peaceful life in all of Europe.

The film captures the celebration of Malanka just a month before the full-scale Russian invasion and the first Christmas in the newly de-occupied territories of Ukraine’s Slobozhanshchyna and Donechchyna. The film consists of two parts, combined into one film previously released by Ukraïner: the full-length "Christmas Together" and the short "Malanka. To Save Home".

A documentary tells the story of how, in January 2023, young people from all over Ukraine brought Christmas caroling to the Slobozhanshchyna region (northeastern Ukraine). These young men and women created a festive holiday atmosphere for the residents of newly liberated communities who had endured occupation and the horrors of Russian terror.