“Children in Fire”: A documentary about Russia’s crimes against Ukrainian children showed in Kiev

As part of the XVI Odessa International Film Festival at the Kiev Cinema “October” the premiere of the film “Children in the fire” was held. The film tells the stories of eight children who were victims of Russian attacks, suffered deportations, imprisonment, and were injured.

Among the heroes – Bogdan Ermokhin, who was illegally taken to Russia from Mariupol in a group of 31 children, Roman Oleksa, who survived during a blow to Vinnitsa in July 2022, Yana Stepanenko, who lost his feet due to the shelling of Kramatorsk, Valery Sidorov.

The tape combines a live shoot with animation that illustrates the scene characters.

“With the beginning of a full -scale invasion, I made the movie” Freedom in Fire. ” In the process of shooting we communicated with many children. And I realized that true confrontation, true power is the next generation. But at the same time, with the exposing of new and new crimes, such as forced deportation, brainwashing, children who lost their limbs, children who were killed, I realized that I needed to give more and more voice to the next generation of Ukrainians, to shed light and to pay attention through the screen. It is for this reason that I decided to vote for Ukrainian children and include different stories in one movie, ”says Radio Svoboda Ribbon. Yevgeny Atheyevsky.

According to the producer of Galina Sadomtseva, “Children in fire” is the final history of the part of Athineevsky’s trilogy, including “Freedom in the fire” (testimony of eyewitnesses of crimes committed in Ukraine) and “Winter on fire” (about the Revolution of Dignity, the nominee of “Oscar” and “Emmy”.

“Now I think every story was incredibly powerful and at the same time incredibly horrible. Therefore, talking to Jana, whose history is connected with the railway station in Kramatorsk, with Roma – and his experience in Vinnitsa, or, say, with Vlad Buryak, who spent 48 days in the torture – it was very difficult to realize it all. And many other stories I learned were also difficult to perceive. But you know what? You go through this because you are motivated to tell their stories, ”the director notes.

The film has already received five international awards, but this is the first show in Ukraine.

In particular, the film won two honorary honors at Monte Carlo TV festival: a special jury award in News & Documentaries and Amade prize in the special awards section.