Olha Mykhailiuk

Antonivka and Kindiyka are the most dangerous districts of Kherson. Olha Mykhailiuk began filming members of their community in 2023, when it was still possible to reach these areas. She recorded her first interviews in the local church, which had been transformed into a humanitarian center. But with the situation escalating rapidly amid daily shelling, the church was closed and residents were asked to move to safer areas of Kherson. At the end of 2024, Mykhailiuk managed to gain access to a new location for Christmas. Inspired by filming people who had lost their houses yet were singing carols and playing Ukrainian traditional musical instruments, she decided to make them the subject of a new project in which she would document their life stories. Her intention is now to continue filming with a professional group, with the aim of producing a documentary film about Kherson during the 2023–2025 period. The art and documentary components will reinforce each other in further screenings and exhibitions.

This project consists of a series of video interviews dealing with the stories of eight Irpin residents. They are different people, with different professions, who found themselves in different situations due to the occupation and its consequences, and who are now witnessing the gradual revival of their city. The interviews will also be translated into English. 

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine I have been in Kyiv, devoting a lot of time to volunteer activities; in particular, working at the humanitarian headquarters, where in March food, medicine and other necessary things goods were shipped to the towns near Kyiv—Bucha, Irpin, Vorzel, Hostomel. After Irpin was liberated, I was there several times, each time returning with new stories: A pensioner who survived thanks to his dog––the house burned down, but his seedlings survived and he planted them; a surgeon who, at his own risk, set up an operating room in a basement; a driver who evacuated children and elderly people under fire. There are still many more untold stories.