They took on a powerful autocrat and won Ukraine's Maidan Revolution by putting their lives on the line in Kiev's main square. But that was only the first battle of the young idealists of Generation Maidan. Now they are battling corrupt oligarchs and bureaucrats in the capital and pro Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. From the first days of the protest a team of Ukrainian filmmakers called Babylon'13 volunteered to capture history in the making on their DSLRs. While the smoke and emotions were still smoldering, Director Andrew Tkach interviewed medics, musicians, self-defense volunteers, civic activists and torture victims who appeared in Babylon's rushes. The front-line footage and interviews with young members of Generation Maidan are woven together to tell an unforgettable story.
GENERATION MAIDAN: A YEAR OF REVOLUTION & WAR SYNOPSISANDREW TKACH PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
Part 1 REVOLUTION: How did a peaceful protest supporting a European Union treaty turn into Ukraines second revolution? Thats the question the first part of this film answers by following the people who made history on the Maidan - Kyivs main square. From the first days of the Euromaidan protests in December 2013, a team of Ukrainian filmmakers called Babylon13, voluntarily captured the action on their DSLRs. They were on the frontline as unarmed protestors took on Ukraines dreaded riot police - the Berkut. Just after the final massacre, while the smoke and emotions were still smoldering, Director Andrew Tkach combed through their footage and selected 7 characters to profile : frontline medics - Dr. Ilkiv, & Ruslan, investigative journalist - Yuri Butusov, self defense volunteers - Andriy & Ivan, civic activist Tina Peresunko and pianist - Alexandra Morozova,. Their recollections and scenes in action tell an unforgettable story how a peaceful protest gradually turned more militant , and how unarmed volunteers defeated a regime willing to turn snipers on its own people.
Part 2 WAR - When the Ukrainian army took back Slovyansk and other towns held by pro-Russian separatists they freed dozens of detainees who survived a harrowing nightmare. According to a Human Rights Report Pro-Russian insurgents are regularly committing horrendous crimes, including forced labor on the frontlines, torture, summary executions.
34 year old Pavlo Yurov is a living witness to those horrors. The young hip theatre director endured two months as a prisoner in the separatists makeshift basement prison in Slovyansk after he spoke too carelessly in an outdoor café. The filmmakers return to Slovyansk with Pavel to visit the very prison cells where he was held hostage. Pavel was freed when the separatists were pushed out by the advancing Ukrainian army. His nose was broken, but his irreverent spirit survived. Others were not as fortunate. Hastily scribbled execution orders sealed the fate of dozens of prisoners and now their bodies are being dug out from recently discovered mass graves.
Sergey Zakharov was lined up three times for mock executions. His crime was simply his art. For weeks he secretly painted street murals in Donetsk mocking the separatists. After he was discovered Zakharov was arrested and tortured in the separatist dungeons for 6 weeks. He is now safely in Kiev, drawing a illustrated history of his ordeal . It provides a vivid testament of human rights violations seldom seen on film.
Ukraines conflict is also a shooting war with a million refugees fleeing artillery duels between regular armies and volunteer militias . The film documents the horrible destruction inflicted on their homes. It also focuses on the wars most vulnerable victims, handicapped children who couldnt be moved to underground shelters during the worst of the shelling.
Many who stood on the Maidan have chosen to defend their revolution by joining one of the volunteer battalions. Ivan is an unlikely combatant in this often dirty war. Hes a Ukrainian-American and New York City native who graduated from Columbia College in the same class as President Obama. Ivan also finished law school but later chose a very different path. In 1997 he became a Ukrainian citizen, married a local woman in Kiev and was quietly raising a family , when pro Russian separatists began taking over towns in eastern Ukraine. Ivans business often took him to Luhansk, which is one of the first cities to fall to pro Russian separatists. Unable to passively see his country dismembered from afar, Ivan joined one of the volunteer militias that stood up to the pro Russian onslaught . Hes now a weekend warrior, ferrying bullet proof vests and helmets, and capturing dramatic frontline footage on his Iphone.
In the end, Generation Maidan was about making change, not war. No one epitomizes that better than Hanna Hopko. Shes a civic activist, who stood on the Maidan and is now a rising star in the new Parliament, committed to complete transparency and radical reform. Now its Hopkos and her generations turn to try and escape the past.
