The film is focused on the three years of Ukraine’s history, that is, 1989, 1990 and 1991. It was just about that time when Ukraine got its real Independence for the first time ever. But this story is merged into the context of history of Soviet Union and its last three years. The list of contributors includes a number of well-known personalities: Leonid Kravchuk, the First Pesident of Ukraine, Stanislav Shushkevich, the former Chairman of the Belorussian Parliament, Gennadi Burbulis, the Secretary of State of the Russian Federation, James Baker, the Secretary of State; the politologist Zbigniew Brzezinski, as well as modern Ukrainian opinion leaders: Myroslav Popovych, Levko Lukianenko, Semen Gluzman, Oxana Zabuzhko. Much archival footage is used, and some of it is quite rare. The film authors believe that a truthful and objective narrative about the history of those events would be beneficial for the public not only in Ukraine, but also in other countries outside of former USSR, as the events that took place in the former socialist camp, still remain unexplored and unclear.
Sergiy Bukovsky was born in 1960 in Bashkiria. He graduated from the Kyiv National Karpenko-Kary University of Theater, Film and Television. After the military service the Soviet Army, he worked at the Ukrainian studio of Documentary Films for more than a decade. Over his 30-year film career, Bukovsky made approximately 50 films. Some of them received awards at prestigious international film festivals. From 1998 to 2003, Bukovsky taught documentary direction at the Karpenko-Kary University. He was named Honored Arts Worker of Ukraine in 2008.
Tomorrow is a Holiday (1987), Roof (1990), Dislocation (1992), The Hyphen (1992), To Berlin! (1995), The Bridge (1999), War. The Ukrainian Account (2003), Spell Your Name (2006), The Living (2008)
