Donbas, 2019. Five teenagers start to seriously think about their future. With the sound of explosions and gunfire in the distance, their energy, enthusiasm, and hope allow them to fully live out their last golden hours of childhood despite the circumstances. They paint, take photographs, fantasise about acting careers or becoming the next Elon Musk. They tinker with mopeds, walk in minefields and sunbathe by the lake. They dream of escaping not only from the war, but also – like teenagers all over the world – from the boredom of a small town. Then, unexpectedly, an opportunity arises to embark on a special expedition to the Himalayas. Will their dream of conquering the world come true?

We Will Not Fade Away was filmed between 2019 and 2022 in Zolote-4 and the Stanytsia Luhanska region, which since Spring 2014 is on the frontline of the Donbas war. After the start of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022, Stanytsia Luhanska was very quickly taken over by the Russian army. The Ukrainian army fiercely resisted at Zolote, which was finally overrun by Russian forces in June 2022. Since then, both cities have been under the control of the Russian Federation.