The full-scale invasion struck us so unexpectedly. As a teenager, I wasn’t really into all the world’s problems — I had troubles of my own that were the most important to me at the time. But, as soon as the first shock went away, came the desire to do something because just sitting and hoping something would change wasn’t enough.
At the beginning of the summer of 2022, my friend put up a story on her Instagram saying that she wants to do a documentary about teens during the war. At that time, film was my passion and I immediately texted her that I really wanted to join the project. After that moment, my life took a dramatic turn that I will forever be grateful for.
It still seems unbelievable to me now, that a bunch of 14–16-year-olds managed to find the characters, write the script, do the interviews, film everything and all of this in the span of those summer months when all of us had a break from school.
This film means a lot to me, and to everybody who participated. It was not only the stories of the characters on screen: a volunteer, refugees, an activist, but it was also a story of everybody behind the camera: operators, screenwriters, video editors, translators, and, most importantly, directors and producers — kids, who put all of their hearts and souls into this project, that was created without a hryvnia because it was all volunteer work.
We are all grown up now, studying at university, working even more to make a change and help our country, doing fundraisers for the army. It was our voice speaking — screaming even — to the outside world about what was going on in our country. What is still going on here in Ukraine. It’s been three years, but the message of the film, unfortunately, is still relevant.
By Sophia Bereza
