Mykolaiv. Chronicles of Protest

A series of multi-genre short films dedicated to the epidemic of socio-cultural nihilism that has engulfed Ukrainian society.

The story of Nina Branovytska, the mother of Ukrainian soldier Ihor Branovytskyi, one of the defenders of Donetsk Airport. In 2015, Ihor was captured during the withdrawal from the airport, he was tortured and executed by a leader of pro-Russian militants while being in captivity.

This is the story about a person who try to be himself almost one evening in all life. He managed to to so, unfortunately paying a nigh prize for it.

People in a Southern Ukrainian city come out to commemorate an important national holiday. Old and new symbols mix in their quest for identity and common understanding. Despite living on neighboring streets, the distance between them is growing. This is a portrait of people who demonstrated on the main square of a city in a country to which war has returned. The film was shot on Victory day on May 9th in Mykolaiv. The flagship city of Russia’s Imperial and Soviet shipbuilding, the city which during Soviet times was considered completely pro-Russian, suddenly reveals its Ukrainian essence. Discussions, various symbols, the battle between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Soviet, red poppies and St. George’s ribbon… In its search for a new self and place in modern day Ukraine, it hurdles itself from one extreme to another.

Helena Maksyom’s personal record of the war in Ukraine, filmed over more than a thousand days. When the invasion began, she was a filmmaker with no experience of combat. She volunteered, learned to treat the wounded, learned to fight, and, over time, became an officer leading others through the same fire that first consumed her.