Auk Nr. 8

In the heart of a once thriving Ukrainian coal-mining region everybody digs - retirees, unemployed miners and even the children. Years ago, the town´s desperate residents decided to start mining illegally. They excavate everywhere: in abandoned mines, under the basement of demolished buildings, in the neighborhood woods and parks, as well as in their own vegetable gardens. The story focuses on the Sikanov family, which has three children. 15-year-old Yura, the grandson of a powerful Soviet plant director, is the head of the family and works as a miner in an illegal pit. Yura would really like to open his own cafe somewhere far from home, but the responsibility for two sisters and the looming economic crisis pushes his dreams in the distant future. (Zlín Film Festival)