To Die to Live

In 2014 when Russia began its occupation of Crimea, three Ukrainian boys – Shakhta, Dancer and Potter – volunteered to fight. After the full-scale invasion in the spring of 2022, they once again returned to the front. The director allows us in close-up to get to know this generation of Ukrainians whose lives are determined by the ruthless struggle for their nation’s existence. Returning to civilian life turns out to be no less complicated. Former soldiers feel alienated from individualistic society and long for the community and clear goals of their experience at the front. Footage shot over twelve years creates a fragmented and intense cinematic experience, wherein the war’s past merges with the present. The film is about man’s attempt to come to terms with mortality while at the same time maintaining the will to live. “Yuliia’s film reminds us that behind every headline and each statistic are people who carry invisible scars. Its message reaches far beyond the borders of Ukraine; it is about the unseen price of freedom, about the courage to choose life again and again,” states Uldis Cekulis, the film’s co-producer from VFS Films studio.

According to Ukrainian National news agency “Ukrinform” data, more than 71% of Ukraine’s inhabitants have volunteered for national defence and support activities since the Russian invasion. During this period more than 20 members of the Ukrainian film industry have perished at the front lines. “When the full-scale invasion began, everyone was saving children and the elderly, but I grabbed a suitcase full of hard drives,” says director Yuliia Hontaruk – “To Live to Die” was created from more than 1,000 hours of footage and approx. 80 film edit versions.