Boney Piles

Terykony

A moving portrait of life for a group of children in east Ukraine, eking a living amidst the detritus of conflict, just prior to the recent Russian invasion.

The house’s facade displays a map of the former USSR, while right next door a second-hand clothing store advertises ‘European quality’. In this part of eastern Ukraine, where war has left nothing but bombed-out houses and desolation, live Nastya and Yarik. Along with other children who once called this place a real home, they exist among the ruins and junkyards with playful resilience. But the years of conflict have created traumas, indelibly scarring the children’s psyches. Taras Tomenko’s powerful and moving film was shot before the recent escalation of Russian’s incursion into Ukraine and is a chilling monument of the barbarity of war.