SYNOPSIS

Four years after the Revolution of Dignity, 16-year-old Serhii continues the fight for justice, this time on a local level. He represents a new generation of Ukrainian leaders: confronting corruption and standing up for human rights, including LGBTQI+ rights. In his native village of Hatne, near Kyiv, developers seize his favourite lake and build new housing around it, without any central sewage system. Wastewater flows straight into a ravine in the middle of the village, creating a stinking pond, a literal symbol of dirty money and the impunity of local authorities. Serhii doesn’t stay silent. On Facebook, he publicly exposes a local deputy who takes chartered flights to the Maldives while officially earning a modest government salary. In response, the “local boss” grabs him by the neck during a village council meeting and threatens to knock his teeth out. Serhii replies calmly and without visible fear: Ukraine still has freedom of speech. When another council member yells at him, “Shut the fuck up!”, Serhii replies: “I’m going to run for office.” This is a David vs. Goliath story, but also a story about a country coming of age. A country fighting both internal corruption and an external enemy — Russia, which has tried to colonize it for centuries. Serhii stands not only against injustice but for the right to be himself, open, honest, vulnerable, in a society still learning to accept difference.