WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY

POLISH TITLE: NIE ZNIKNIEMY

In "We Will Not Fade Away", we follow five Ukrainian teenagers growing up in small towns in a coal mining district. Like the teens the world over, they fight against the boredom and the multiple frustrations of finding out who you are, and how to live. But these teens are in Donbas, where the war has been going on for years.

Not only the region is ravaged by economic decline, but fighting rages constantly in the background – and sometimes much closer. They battle to find their way through the hopelessness and confusion: through drawing, photography, music. Above all, through friendship. They rebel and go on an adventure, through the minefields, between the coal pits, they play in ruined houses, trying to make the most of the last golden hours of childhood. Then, as they dream of escape, an unexpected invitation arrives. How would they like to visit Nepal, and hike through the foothills of the Himalayas? Suggests them a famous Ukrainian traveller. Suddenly, there is a light in the darkness. They train hard to make this impossible-seeming dream a reality, recording their efforts in video diaries. As the situation in their homeland worsens, the threat of a full-scale Russian invasion looms. Canthe hopes and dreams of these young people survive? 

GENRE:
documentary
COUNTRY:
Ukraine, Poland, France
RUNNING TIME:
100'
YEAR:
COLOUR:
colour
DIRECTING:
Alisa Kovalenko
SCRIPT:
Alisa Kovalenko
DOP:
Alisa Kovalenko, Serhiy Stetsenko
EDITOR:
Katarzyna Boniecka, Maryna Maykovska
MUSIC:
Wojciech Frycz
PRODUCTION:
East Roads Films, HAKA FILMS, Trueman Production

Alisa Kovalenko »

Born in 1987 in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. She graduated from journalism studies at the Shevchenko Kiev State University. Now she studies Documentary Directing at I. Karpenko – Karego National University of Theatre, Film and Television in Kiev. She directed several student film, such as "Olehowska Nostalgia", "This is how it is" and "Grandma Hall. Portrait of an accordion".