Life Begins
The Protagonist is a war veteran who struggles to readjust to civilian life after participating in fierce battles. He finds it difficult to find his place, even at home. After a fight in a pub, he is imprisoned in a military facility and then sent back home, where memories, physical and emotional trauma, and the sounds of war haunt him.
A peaceful home seems alien to him, and people who have not experienced war cause misunderstanding and alienation. The Protagonist attempts to adapt by working on a military video script, but even this work provides no solace. His friends and acquaintances only exacerbate his internal conflict by portraying the war as remote.
A phone conversation with a combat friend, memories of the fallen, constant body pain and anxiety all serve to reveal how difficult it is for a veteran to exist in a peaceful life. In the finale, the Protagonist meets his family at the railway station, but even this meeting leaves a bitter aftertaste. All his emotions are cut short by a scream on the phone as he talks to his wounded friend.
The film ends abruptly, emphasising the incompleteness and difficulty of veterans' return to normal life, which is full of shadows of war.
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Oleksii TaranenkoDirector
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Pavlo BeliianskyiWriter
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Andrii KorniienkoProducer
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Volodymyr KravchukKey Cast
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Project Title (Original Language):Життя починається
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Project Type:Feature, Short
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Genres:PTSD-drama
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Runtime:27 minutes 30 seconds
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Completion Date:February 28, 2025
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Production Budget:45,000 USD
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Country of Origin:Ukraine
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Country of Filming:Ukraine
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Language:Ukrainian
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:2,35:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Kyiv International Short Film FestivalKyiv
Ukraine
September 7, 2025
National Premiere
Special award from the Ukrainian Film Critics Association -
Kanazawa Film FestivalKanazawa
Japan
October 10, 2025
International Premiere
Best Short Film -
Miami Short Film FestivalMiami
United States
November 16, 2025
North American Premiere
Official Selection -
Ukrainian Film Festival BerlinBerlin
Germany
October 24, 2025
German Premiere
Oficial Selection -
10th UKRAINE! Film FestivalWarsaw
Poland
November 3, 2025
Poland Premiere
Best Short Film -
National Film Critics Award “Kinokolo”Kyiv
Ukraine
November 29, 2025
Best Short Fiction Film -
Damah International Film FestivalTokyo
Japan
April 10, 2026
Tokyo Premier
Official Selection -
GI Film FestivalSan Diego
United States
May 6, 2026
West Coast Premiere
Official Selection -
Cine-Maniacs FilmfestBavaria
Germany
Honorable Mention -
Positively Different Short Film FestivalAthens
Greece
March 18, 2026
Greece Premier
Official Selection -
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film FestivalClermont-Ferrand
France
February 4, 2026
Market Screening
Short Film Market Picks
A Ukrainian film director and screenwriter, born in 1976 in Dnipro, Ukraine. Since 2017, he has been working as a director of commercials and films. In 2013, his documentary Stylization of Aftertaste received a Special Mention at The Film Skillet Documentary Film Contest (USA). He is the author of several scripts, commercials, and feature projects. His feature debut as a director, I Work at the Cemetery (2022), was selected for and awarded at numerous national and international film festivals, including the Warsaw Film Festival, Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival, and the British Independent Film Festival.
Filmography
2025 – It Will Happen (documentary) Editor
2025 – The Dam (feature film, fiction) Director, Screenwriter 2025 – The Artist (TV series, fiction) Director, Screenwriter 2025 – Life Begins (short film, fiction) Director, Screenwriter 2024 – Family Album (documentary) Editor 2022 – I Work at the Cemetery (feature film, fiction) Director, Screenwriter, Editor 2018 – Showtime (short film, fiction) Director, Screenwriter, Editor 2013 – Stylization of Aftertaste (short film, documentary) Director, Camera operator, Editor
Awards and Nominations
2025 – Life Begins – Nomination for Best Short Film at the Kanazawa Film Festival (Japan).
2025 – Life Begins – Nomination in The Ukrainian Competition at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival (Ukraine).
2022 – I Work at the Cemetery – Nomination for Best Film in the Competition 1-2 Award at the Warsaw Film Festival (Poland).
2021 – I Work at the Cemetery – Nomination for Discovery of the Year at the Ukrainian Film Critics Awards Kinokolo (Ukraine).
2021 – I Work at the Cemetery – Nomination for Best Feature Film at the Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival (Ukraine).
2021 – I Work at the Cemetery – Nomination for Best Feature Film at the British Independent Film Festival (UK).
2021 – I Work at the Cemetery – Nomination for Best Feature Film (World Competition) at the Ferrara Film Festival (Italy).
2019 – Showtime – Nomination for Best Film (Jury Award) at the Bardak Film Fest (Ukraine).
2015 – The Random Passenger – Special Mention in the Coronation of the Word competition at the Screenplay Festival (Ukraine).
2013 – Stylization of Aftertaste – Special Mention at The Film Skillet Documentary Competition (USA).
When I started working on this film, it seemed to me that it was a story solely about PTSD and the adaptation of a soldier who urgently returns to civilian life. It is a very attentive and calm, almost therapeutic reflection on the military experience of writer Pavlo Belyansky (the screenplay is based on the final chapter of his book "Fight not Retreat"). However, the more we worked on the script, the clearer it became that this is a broader, larger, and very significant story about the world around us, a world that has changed forever, about war and its consequences, and most intriguingly, about the uncertainty of the time we are all living in, about the traumas our society has endured, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead for us.
