On February 24, 2022, Yevhen, together with his friends, volunteered to join the first aid squad on the front line. They provided life-saving support and evacuation of the wounded. This film reveals the experiences of these young men for six months full of drama, despair, fear, hatred, bitterness, love, and, most importantly, faith in victory.
Documentary
Eastern Front
On 24 February 2022, Yevhen went to the front. He began to record everything: his own feelings, tens of thousands of refugees, and the friends with whom he was going to war. Yevhen is a member of the volunteer medical battalion known as the 'Hospitallers'. Their assignment is to provide first aid on the front line and to evacuate the wounded to headquarters or frontline hospitals. This mobile unit is the main character of the film. Six months full of drama, despair, fear, hatred, bitterness, love, and, most importantly, faith in victory.
When they went to war, our protagonists sent their families far away from the front – to a village in the west of Ukraine. It was in this village that the young men came to visit their relatives before the Ukrainian army's large-scale southward counterattack. Not everyone is destined to return alive and in good health. They come to say goodbye to their loved ones and to baptise the nine-month-old son of Subbota. As soon as they rise from the celebratory feast, they must go back to war...
Festivals and prizes
World premiere and regional premieres
Crew
Author and director Vitaly Mansky
Cinematographer and director Yevhen Titarenko
DoP Ivan Fomichenko
Sound Václav Flegl
Editing Andrey Paperny
Producers Natalia Manskaia (Vertov/Latvia), Nataliia Khazan (Braha Production Company/Ukraine)
Co-producers Filip Remunda, Vit Klusak (Hypermarket Film/Czech Republic)
TV Executive editor Kenan Aliev (Current Time TV/USA)
TV Commissioning editor Natalia Arshavskaya (Current Time TV/USA)
Production Companies Vertov SIA, Braha Production Company, Hypermarket Film, Current Time
National Film Centre of Latvia Czech Film Fund Ukrainian State Film Agency