In September, the Ukrainian team "I am Ukrainian" led by the director and author of the project of the same name, Yulian Ulybin, presented the

trailer

for the documentary series "Children of Bomb Vaults".

The premiere of the series is scheduled for December and will be available for viewing on the Kyivstar TV online television platform. 

The audience is waiting for a story about Ukrainian children and their parents who survived the terrible realities of the war, hiding in shelters.

These are true stories about how strangers became close, about children's games, songs in the dark, bedtime stories, life underground, and about simple childhood dreams.

The dramatic stories of the heroes of the tape will not leave anyone indifferent and aim to convey Ukrainian values ​​to the world audience. 

In an exclusive interview, TSN.ua

 spoke with the director Yulian Ulybin about the work on the series, filming in Ukrainian cities that have become the center of Russian terror, about the dramatic stories of ordinary people and the not-at-all children's stories of the smallest Ukrainians.

Currently, there are more and more projects designed to reveal the truth about the Russian Federation's full-scale war in Ukraine.

"Bomb Vault Children" is one of them.

Tell us what this project is about and what are its main messages?

"Children of Bomb Shelters" are stories about how strangers became close, about children's games, about songs in the dark, about bedtime stories, about life underground, about dreams and about the common desire to return to a peaceful life.

We want as many people as possible around the world to understand what an alarming siren is and how difficult it is for Ukrainians to survive during the bombings.

And that every child who faced the horrors of war needs protection and help in the future. 

How many people worked on the creation of the series?

To whom do you dedicate this important work?

First of all, I want to dedicate this project to my wife Nataliya Ulybinia, who is the author of the idea, and who, unfortunately, left us three months ago, having passed away into eternity. 

I am grateful to the team that worked on the project.

In particular, they are excellent specialists in their field: cameraman Serhiy Smychok, camera mechanic Oleksiy Kapustin, organizational issues were solved by Serhii Kravets, sound and editing was provided by Dmytro Smirny, and I, Yulian Ulybin, was the director.

Kateryna Kucherenko coordinated us from the rear.

Of course, many more people are involved in the project, and later we will definitely write about each of them in the credits. 

The series shows the stories of people who became hostages of Russian terror.

Tell us how the heroes were chosen and whose story impressed you the most?

When starting work on the project, we did not imagine the scale of the tragedy.

It seems to me that no person can imagine this without facing it in real life.

Previously, we planned to work in the usual short format, one story - ten minutes.

And only later, from the ten stories, we planned to edit something more, namely a small film, similar to an almanac of war stories.

But from the very beginning, things did not go according to plan, because the stories turned out to be more than just stories.

Every story is unique.

Of course, such tragedies as the destruction of the Mariupol Drama Theater or the tragedy in the village of Yagidne strike from the first second with the scale of cynicism and even in the imagination destroy all boundaries of humanity.

365 people, including 76 children, were locked in the basement of the school and for 28 days acted as human shields for the Russian military.

People died from stench and suffocation.

They slept sitting and standing because there was simply no room. 

In fact, we did not choose heroes, we simply followed the bloody trail of Russian barbarians in Mykolaiv, Mariupol, Zaporizhzhia, Gulyaipol, Irpen, Bucha, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Yagidny.

Now there is a complete drama.

I want to quote one of our heroines, who, in my opinion, said a very apt phrase: "The worst thing that can happen now is to be born a Russian, especially if you are an adequate person."  

Was it difficult to talk about the war with the youngest heroes?

After all, children are extremely vulnerable now.

How did you find a personal approach to everyone?

When you talk to children and listen to far from children's stories, you are filled with rage, which is very difficult to tame.

You don't understand how something like this can happen in the 21st century. 

Of course, you have to be very careful when working with children, because they are really vulnerable and traumatized right now.

Each of the children experienced the tragedy in their own way: someone was helped by their parents, and someone closed in on himself and hid all his fears in the labyrinths of his soul.

But what can I say: our entire future generation is traumatized, and, in my opinion, this is the most important problem of this war.

I can't even imagine how long it will take to restore peace to each child, and this is our most important task. 

I want "Children of Bomb Shelters" to be seen by as many people as possible in the Western world, so that a German, French or Spaniard, meeting Ukrainian women with children in their city, understands that they came to his country not of their own free will.

So that everyone asks themselves one single question: what do I know about war?

About how children sleep in a bomb shelter? 

When will the audience be able to see the premiere of the film?

And on what resources to watch it? 

We are the "I am Ukrainian" team, and it's very easy to find us on Facebook, that's where new episodes of the "Bomb Shelter Children" series will appear.

Follow the announcements.

Moreover, we have already been supported by the Kyivstar TV online television platform, so very soon viewers will be able to see new series there. 

I'm sure you'll be seeing the series pretty soon wherever there's an internet connection.

In addition, we are actively negotiating with international platforms regarding the distribution of our project.

But it is still a little early to talk about where, when and how. 

Julian, how do you personally feel about the dramatic events in Ukraine?

Where do you get the motivation and inspiration to create new products?

I have a lot of rage - and this is the best motivation. 

And how does the war affect Ukrainian cinema in general?

What changes have already taken place and what can we expect in the future? 

Now you just need to work for victory.

Everyone, as they can.

As long as there is a war in Ukraine, there is no point in talking about any cinema or forecasts for the future.

"One of the main tasks of the Kyivstar TV online television platform at the moment is the support of domestic cinema and the distribution of projects that show the truth about the Russian war in Ukraine. We strive to increase interest in authentic Ukrainian projects, so we try to support directors and their teams in every possible way, providing a platform for the distribution of such important content. We believe that with Peremoga, the number of impressive and such necessary tapes will only increase," commented Kyivstar TV. 

Help about "I am Ukrainian" 

Before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the "I am Ukrainian" team existed as a documentary project about Ukrainian masters of their craft.

The author and director of the initiative is Yulian Ulybin.

From February 24, the team changed its direction of work and began working on documentary materials about the life and struggle of Ukrainians in the war with the Russian Federation. 

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