Natalia Krasilnikova

Five young Ukrainians discuss life following the Maidan Revolution of 2014. Not all fought in the Russian-Ukrainian war, but it, regardless, shattered their life plans. Representing 'Generation Maidan', they face the question of how to cope with experiences of violence, how to go on. A local theatre director produces Hamlet, wherein they can use Shakespeare’s tragic character as a mirror and face their traumas onstage. For them, 'to be or not to be' is not simply text but an existential dilemma with no clear answer.

Mykola Golowan is an old sculptor from the Ukrainian town of Lutsk where he has been building his unique house for over 30 years now. The place has become a tourist's attraction: people come here to take a souvenire photo with the house, and sometimes with the master himself. The film, however, tells about the everyday life of a person who does what he loves, not paying attention to popularity, not seeking acclaim. It is a story about the harmony of solitude.

"Beyond Euro" is the result of collective work of the youth creative laboratory. His idea can probably be defined as an attempt to impersonate the crowd. The ability to see, to distinguish a human face from a crowd that seems faceless, cohesive on a sporting, political, or any other basis. And tell me about it. That's probably the point. Both the Almanac and the laboratory. How successful this experiment is will be judged by the audience. In any case, it took place. And here is a series of attentive, thoughtful, concerned or ironic, but always caring and independent views of young authors on the reality that surrounds them. To see a separate human face in a crowd also means to keep your own. In any crowd... which is thus personified and gets a chance to turn into a society. The thought is not new, but it needs to be reminded.