SYNOPSIS

 

Since its creation at the end of the 18th century, Lviv’s Lychakiv cemetery has served as a burial ground for the city’s most prominent residents and warriors, who fought against numerous invaders throughout Lviv’s turbulent history. The cemetery houses graves dating back to Austro-Hungarian times, as well as Polish monuments, burials of prominent leaders of the Ukrainian Nationalist movement and Soviet army soldiers killed in the battles of WWII.
 

As the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close, new graves are being dug up at the Field of Mars section of Lychakiv’s cemetery for the soldiers who gave their lives to defend Ukraine from Russian invaders. Fresh flowers, Ukrainian tricolours and newly erected burial crosses cover the ground. The funeral procession slowly approaches, and we join a solemn and dignified ceremony, the likes of which are held all over Ukraine daily. We pray together with the soldier’s loved ones, we bare our heads together with his comrades-in-arms to pay our last respect, and we lay the wreaths on the ground. We are at one with the family of Private Y. L. Petrov, but also with hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians whose children and grandchildren are paying with their lives for the freedom of their country.
 

A vivid and minimalist cinematic fresco, depicting humanity in the face of war.

​

Documentary, colour, 2025, 12 min.