We Will Not Fade Away

In “We Will Not Fade Away”, we follow five Ukrainian teenagers growing up in small towns in a coal mining district. Like the teens around the world, they fight against the boredom and the multiple frustrations of finding out who you are, and how to live. But these teens are in Donbas, where the war has been going on for years. Not only the region is ravaged by economic decline, but fighting rages constantly in the background – and sometimes much closer. They battle to find their way through the hopelessness and confusion: through drawing, photography, music. Above all, through friendship. They rebel and go on an adventure, through the minefields, between the coal pits, they play in ruined houses, trying to make the most of the last golden hours of childhood. Then, as they dream of escape, an unexpected invitation arrives. How would they like to visit Nepal, and hike through the foothills of the Himalayas? Suggests them a famous Ukrainian traveler. Suddenly, there is a light in the darkness. They train hard to make this impossible-seeming dream a reality, recording their efforts in video diaries. As the situation in their homeland worsens, the threat of a full-scale Russian invasion looms. Can the hopes and dreams of these young people survive?