Zone of Interest: Better to Live Than Be a Hero?

synopsis

Three generations of Ukrainian men with ties to the Czech Republic face the same dilemma: die in the war against Russia and fulfil their duty to their country, or care for their loved ones and avoid military service? Director Ondřej Herskovič follows the lives of three men: Dima, whose wife, adult son and grandchildren live in the Czech Republic while he fights on the front line with the Ukrainian army; his son Ivan, who now works as a lorry driver and is raising young children with his wife; and Andrei, a young man who has just reached adulthood and can enlist voluntarily, but is unsure which choice is right. “War does no one any good,” says Dima, a seasoned soldier, as he tries to dissuade young Andrei from joining the army. Both also reflect on what will happen after the war, when traumatised men return home. In every Ukrainian town and city, portraits of the fallen and their names are impossible to escape. A pressing question resonates far beyond the Ukrainian community in the Czech Republic: after the war, how will the men who fought get along with those who did not take up arms to defend their country?

biography

Ondřej Herskovič is a Czech documentary director and screenwriter. He graduated from the Miroslav Ondříček Film Academy in Písek and has been making documentaries since 2010. As a director and writer, he has contributed to more than 150 programmes, primarily for Czech Television. His work includes the educational series PORT, Lovci záhad and GurmetLab, the documentary trilogy Vytrvalí, and the five-part series Šéflékařky, which follows prominent Czech women doctors working in demanding hospital settings. 

film details

director:	Ondřej Herskovič
producer:	Zuzana Trávníčková
script:	Ondřej Herskovič
editing:	Kristýna Toupalová
sound:	Matouš Uhlíř