Private Project

I WORK AT THE CEMETERY

Forgiving the mistakes, learning to love and stop being afraid of life – it is rather difficult to cope with at the cemetery, but it is quite possible. Even though it sometimes seems that the cemetery is not outside, but inside of you.

Sasha - a man of about 35 – manager of a firm that installs tombstones at the cemetery. He has a lot of customers, each of whom experiences
a personal tragedy. However, Sasha is full of cynicism and irony. One day his 14-year-old daughter appears to return her father into her life. Sasha also meets a young business lady who has just buried her son and a lonely old man who has ordered a tombstone for himself. Sasha becomes involved in the struggle for power between the “eminence grise” of the cemetery and the new manager. And in this whirl of personal tragedies and criminal clashes, it gradually becomes clear that Sasha has a severe psychological trauma because of what happened in his past.

  • Oleksii Taranenko
    Director
  • Pavel Belyanskiy
    Writer
  • Andrii Kornienko
    Producer
  • Artem Koliubaiev
    Producer
  • Maksim Leshchanka
    Producer
  • Vitalii Salii
    Key Cast
    "Sasha"
  • Anna Ivanova
    Key Cast
    "Alice"
  • Andrii Korniienko
    Key Cast
    "Olena"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Я працюю на цвинтарі
  • Project Type:
    Feature, Other
  • Genres:
    Drama, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 40 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 19, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    800,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Ukraine
  • Country of Filming:
    Ukraine
  • Language:
    Polish, Ukrainian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Kyiv IFF Molodist
    Kyiv
    Ukraine
    June 1, 2021
    Ukrainian Premier
    Official Selection
  • Ferrara Film Festival
    Ferrara
    Italy
    June 3, 2021
    Italian Premier
    Official Selection
  • British Independent Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    May 29, 2021
    British Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Munich Film Awards
    Munich
    Germany
    August 18, 2021
    Award Winner - Best Feature Film
  • The Calvert Journal Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    October 15, 2021
    UK Premier
    Official Selection
  • Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival
    Middlebury
    United States
    August 25, 2021
    North American Premier
    Official Selection
  • Montelupo Fiorentino International Independent Film Festival
    Ginestra Fiorentina
    Italy
    October 25, 2021
    Best Cinematography
  • Warsaw International Film Festival
    Warsaw
    Poland
    October 21, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Ukrainian Film Critics Awards
    Kyiv
    Ukraine
    October 21, 2021
    Best Actor
  • Stockholm Independent Film Festival
    Stockholm
    Sweden
    May 5, 2022
    Swedish Premier
    Drama Feature Competition
  • International Film Festival Prague
    Prague
    Czech Republic
    May 17, 2022
    Czech
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Film UA
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Oleksii Taranenko

2020 – I WORK AT THE CEMETERY narrative film, director;
2019 – RANDOM PASSENGER narrative short film, director, screenwriter;
2018 – SCREENING, narrative short film, director, screenwriter, editor;

Awards:
2017 – Advertising film LONELINESS Kyiv International Advertising Festival, category films, section consumer services 3-d place, Ukraine;
2015 – Screenplay of short film RANDOM PASSENGER, special award of The Word Coronation contest at the Kinoscript festival, Ukraine;
2013 – Documentary AFTERTASTE STYLING, special mention at The Film Skillet Documentary Film Contest (USA).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

First of all, our film is a tragicomedy, where deeply tragic things are interwoven very closely with the comic ones. This inter-genre swinging always appeals to the viewer (let’s remember the hits – Forrest Gump, films by Georgiy Daneliya, etc.).
In addition, the story is also a professional drama, telling about the people of not very popular professions – all those who work at the cemetery. The very topic helps us to get the viewers interested with something they have never and nowhere seen before. The bright examples of symbiosis of the powerful professional
drama and melodrama are Arrhythmia by Boris Khlebnikov.
Despite the recurring theme of the loss and its acceptance the film is about life. It tells that the life is short, surprising, that everything has its end and the death is a part of life. That we are alive until we love. That no people disappear until they are remembered and that in our grief we shouldn’t forget the living people who need our love so much.