How Far Is Close

What is it like to grow up in times of war? In a documentary film they developed themselves, nine young Ukrainian women offer a unique insight into their lives—into everyday life in a state of emergency. In the documentary, nine Ukrainian teenagers tell their stories. Some of the young women have fled to other countries, while others remain in Ukraine, but all of them become co-authors of their own lives: How much is left for oneself when fear for family and fellow human beings, when death, separation, and trauma are omnipresent?

Anya and Seryozha, eighteen and nineteen years old, have been close friends since school. They live in Mariupol, an industrial city in southeastern Ukraine. The film shows snapshots from the life of young people searching for who they want to be and how they want to live. They move between autonomy and uncertainty, rebellion and melancholy. They are full of imagination and willpower.