Uprooted

How is war experienced on an everyday level? What are the experiences of those who lost their homes, past and future? The three heroines of the film do not know each other and belong to different generations. Still, they tell their stories to the viewer in dialogue as if continuing each other's stories. The film also includes photographs from the protagonists' home archives. Nastya, 23, was born in Mariupol and worked as a schoolteacher's assistant. During the siege of Mariupol, she lived with her mother for more than a month without any contact with the rest of her family, then they managed to leave the occupied part of Ukraine via Russia for Finland. The second heroine, Svitlana, was born in Mariupol in 1973. She spent more than two months in the cellar during the siege of the city. Then she, her mother and their dog left Mariupol through Russia for Europe. Svitlana's son, who was one of the defenders of Azovstal is still a war prisoner in Russia. The third character, Elena, is 71 years old and has three daughters and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Elena lived in a private house with a garden on the outskirts of Kharkiv. The war started and Elena spent three weeks in the cellar of her house, almost without going outside. Water and food were scarce. She observed the destruction of the house and the garden by shell and bomb fragments. Fortunately, Elena managed to escape to Finland via Russia with her eldest daughter and their kitten. The film tells the stories of the women protagonists, their experiences of trauma and their attempts to find a new place in Europe. But all that is dear to them remains in their home country: their relatives and friends, their household and their normal life, which will never be the same again...