We Will Not Fade Away(We won’t disappear) is the title of a Ukrainian documentary screened at the 73rd Berlinale, the international film festival held in the German capital. Directed by filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko, co-produced by our colleague Stéphane Siohan, the film follows the daily life of five teenagers living in the Donbass, on the front line. Filming began in 2019 and wrapped last year when full-scale war broke out.
From our special correspondent in Berlin,
Their names are André, Illia, Lera, Liza and Ruslan. These five teenagers live in Zolote 4 and Stanytsia, in the Luhansk region, on the front line of the Donbass war. ” War is omnipresent. With more or less intensity. And they are used to it. It became their daily background, recountdocumentary filmmaker Alisa Kovalenko. Sometimes they don’t pay attention to it. Sometimes I was filming and I heard “Bam!” and they didn’t even react to the sound of the bombs. »
One dreams of building his own motorcycle, another devotes himself to painting, a third would like to become a rapper. All were selected by a Ukrainian adventurer, Valentin Sherbachov, to take part in a trip to the Himalayas.
” The famous Ukrainian adventurer Valentin Scherbatchov told me about his dream: to take the kids from these frontline areas on a therapeutic trip to the Himalayas. He works a lot with children, sets them sporting challenges, he has a YouTube channel. We started working together, and I filmed all the preparation work, I met a lot of teenagers, I read their letters. I filmed a lot, but only kept a few sequences of this preparation “, continues Alisa Kovalenko.
Two missing actors
In February 2022, when the Russian invasion was imminent, the documentary filmmaker returned to the Donbass to film some sequences. ” The streets were deserted, there were tanks. I spent a few days there during the invasion, but I barely filmed, she confides. I was frustrated, I thought I would never film again, I didn’t see how it could help Ukraine. I wanted to persuade them to leave the place, but they refused, thinking that everything would work out. I was afraid for them. I managed to leave with a friend, then I joined a volunteer army, so I fought for a while. »
For four months, Alisa Kovalenko served on the eastern front, then returned to kyiv to complete the editing of her film. She is still in contact with these five teenagers: one had to flee his village and find refuge elsewhere in Ukraine, two are abroad and she has no news of the other two young people, who are missing.