Sashko Brama

GRANTEE

Documenting Ukraine Grants

There Will Be No Lessons Today or Tomorrow

The documentary “Graduation 2022,” directed by Sashko Brama, tells the story of students from the 11th grade of Chernihiv School, whose city was surrounded by the Russian army and under threat of occupation in spring 2022. 
Students started preparing for graduation at the beginning of the 2021 academic year: they sewed dresses and learned the graduation waltz. This waltz was especially important for Nastya, who wanted to become a choreographer. But their plans were interrupted by the Russian invasion. The reality of the students changed dramatically as they went out with their parents on roads that were under fire, sat in basements, and gathered pieces of missiles in their own gardens.
The film attempts to create a portrait of a young person in Ukraine who finds themself in a difficult period of life: he or she becomes an adult and begins to make her or his own choices. How does the war affect young Ukrainians? What do they dream about?

Grant on behalf of:
Viktoria

The documentary movie Viktoria tells the story of a young couple from Ukraine. Viktoria is four months pregnant, Yurii will soon depart for the front line. The couple attempts to compensate for the time they will spend missing each other in the future by being together now as much as possible. 

Yurii goes to the front line. To avoid falling into despair Viktoria prepares for the birth of a child. She buys items and clothes for the baby, furnishes the room. She works during the day and talks to her husband via cell phone in the evening. She makes herself cozy in her bed, strokes her swollen belly and reads one of the Lord of the Rings books to Yurii. He listens, lying in total darkness in a small foxhole he dug in a nameless tree belt.

Childbirth is closing in. Viktoria is afraid to give birth before her husband returns. In the meantime, he is sent on a combat mission, so he has no mobile phone service for a week. Will Yurii survive? Will Vika and the baby be able to wait for their father's return?
 

 

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