Juvenilia

The documentary "Juvenilia" is little more than a teen autobiography. It tells the story of how to preserve oneself in a world that no longer exists. When the world where the nearest, brightest years of life were at least tangible, the routes were more or less known, and the plans were somehow, but built, is destroyed.

In that — old understandable — world, a young Ukrainian boy Artem lives in the Donetsk region: he goes to school, makes friends, attends film courses. He plans to stay in Ukraine, enter Kharkov University and at the same time engage in creative work: editing, camerawork, cinematography. But reality makes its adjustments — on February 24, 2022, Russia begins a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Juvenilia" exposes the mundane side of the war: urgent gatherings, evacuation, survival in the field conditions. An attempt to fit everything that has surrounded and shaped you all these years into a couple of suitcases, so that with this baggage you can go to a new life. Without any prospects — but with a reminder of who you are.

The movie shows the process that millions of Ukrainians, forced to flee the war for the third year in a row, are living through as they settle into a new place and environment — often changing shelters one after another.

Can a person remain himself when almost everything that defined his life and influenced him has been destroyed? How can one integrate into a new world without experiencing an identity crisis? Will Artem be able to adapt while preserving himself? All the questions are answered by a little more than Artem Sytnik's autobiography — the documentary "Juvenilia".