Lagoons. A Battle for Paradise
During one year, the wheel of life at Tuzly Lagoons National Nature Park in Ukraine comes full circle. This is a life between the two worlds: the world of beautiful wild nature and the world of intense, dangerous struggle. .
Tuzly Lagoons National Nature Park is a nature reserve on the Black Sea. It’s the nursery for fish and dolphins, kingdom of birds, a land of rare plants and endangered animals. For many years, park protectors led by Ivan Rusev and Iryna Vykhrystiuk have been fighting for the preservation of the Lagoons.
We discover Nature in our film through our male hero Ivan, who is a respected Ukrainian environmental scientist. He is a person who can truly communicate with nature. Together with him during the year we follow a story of a little bird which migrates to South Africa.
His friend and companion is Iryna, who is now Park’s general manager. She is an activist, and a fierce fighter. Without fear she confronts armed men in the steppes, and powerful men in the courts, fighting for the Park’s safety. Iryna embodies the line of the Battle in the film.
At stake of this battle is the life itself - of the animals, fish and plants that live on this land.
But there’s not just a single antagonist in this battle. Poachers, hunters, raiders and corrupted officials are so numerous that together they are a sort of an evil force, which is impossible to beat once and for good. So the main conflict lies in the question - will the heroes be able to hold on to their ground as the park's managing team? Or, will they be forced to leave the Lagoons?
Tuzly Lagoons National Nature Park is a nature reserve on the Black Sea. It’s the nursery for fish and dolphins, kingdom of birds, a land of rare plants and endangered animals. For many years, park protectors led by Ivan Rusev and Iryna Vykhrystiuk have been fighting for the preservation of the Lagoons.
We discover Nature in our film through our male hero Ivan, who is a respected Ukrainian environmental scientist. He is a person who can truly communicate with nature. Together with him during the year we follow a story of a little bird which migrates to South Africa.
His friend and companion is Iryna, who is now Park’s general manager. She is an activist, and a fierce fighter. Without fear she confronts armed men in the steppes, and powerful men in the courts, fighting for the Park’s safety. Iryna embodies the line of the Battle in the film.
At stake of this battle is the life itself - of the animals, fish and plants that live on this land.
But there’s not just a single antagonist in this battle. Poachers, hunters, raiders and corrupted officials are so numerous that together they are a sort of an evil force, which is impossible to beat once and for good. So the main conflict lies in the question - will the heroes be able to hold on to their ground as the park's managing team? Or, will they be forced to leave the Lagoons?
Step Into the Comfort Zone
Larysa had always felt attracted to women, but for a long time she didn't know how to accept herself: she was married to a man, gave birth to four sons, suffered humiliation and betrayal, but eventually decided to divorce. When Russia started the full-scale war, Larysa and her sons fled from Bakhmut in the east of Ukraine. And then she met a woman named Bako in an online chat for women... and they fell madly in love. Bako lives in Kazakhstan, and her past experiences and personal traumas closely mirror Larysa's: she has two daughters who barely speak to their fathers – Bako raised the girls mostly by herself. The traditionalist society where she comes from encourages women to work but deprives them from personal freedoms. We follow Larysa and Bako’s first meeting – after almost two years of their online romance and after Bako covers a long challenging journey from Kazakhstan to Ukraine – and the first steps the two take towards building a new future together. For the first time in their lives they are in a relationship based on love and for the first time the marriage sounds like a dream-come-true for them, instead of a burden imposed by society. If only it were possible...