fiction series
My heart is steel! My blood is Azov!
Do not cry, my dear, we will rise again!
If they had lived in the 17th century, they would have been a good Cossack family. Father, mother, two heroic sons, and a beautiful daughter. They would ride their horses, go to Sich, go on naval campaigns on chaika boats, and gain glory on the battlefield.
But it was the 21st century outside. Large foundry plants grew in the place of once free Cossack wild steppes, and the family also melted in a new form. The famous Syrenko's steel dynasty. All natives of Mariupol. Strict faces, iron hands, hot hearts.
'Batia', Taras Sirenko, is the head of everything. He spent his whole life at Azovstal and met his wife, Kateryna, there. Both sons, Oleh and Mykola, completed their studies and also went to work there. The daughter Olya just separated from her parents and decided to enter Medical University. But in the end, life will lead her to the same place – to her family.
Until 2014, they were no different from all good families of this kind. But the trouble brought to their home by the first enemy missiles forced them to pass an incredible test for strength, endurance, for the ability to melt into new, stronger forms.
The main character, "father", pensioner Taras Sirenko experiences the most powerful transformation. He loses the dream of his life, a large family house, he has been building all his life. He loses the illusion of good neighborly relations with the Russians. He loses his wife and the eldest, beloved son in the end. And yet he finds the strength to change, to melt, to find a new purpose in life.
His goal isn't only protecting his family but also other peaceful city residents in case of a new invasion. Which, he is sure, will happen.
Taras decides that his mission is to create a kind of Noah's ark. A place where, in the case of a new attack, a large number of people can find salvation. This mission became his idée fixe. Consistently, stubbornly, facing misunderstanding, mockery, and humiliation, he realizes his goal.
Failing to receive help from the eldest son, he finds support from the youngest. He convinces the management of the need for such a safety measure.
36 bomb shelters are being constructed slowly and systematically. Wooden pallets for beds, technical and drinking water, antiseptics, protective clothing...
8 years pass and Mariupol calms down and gradually tries to forget about the terrible 2014. But Taras becomes the guardian who doesn't let people forget about the danger. He demands, improves, and doesn't give up on his idea. After all, everyone starts calling him an old paranoid behind his back.
A year before the start of the full-scale war, 'Noah' is hastily sent to retirement. But Taras does not calm down. He transfers the improvement mission to his son. More dry rations are needed, many dry rations. And hemostatic tourniquets, just in case. Generators and gasoline... The younger son, the head of the workshop, arranges everything at his own expense even though everyone around considers this unnecessary. He has to fight with a collaborator, the head of another workshop, who snitches on him to the management.
February 2022 puts everything in place. The flashes of the first missiles shed light on who is who. The eldest son's daughter-in-law flees to Russia with Taras' grandson. His eldest son Oleh is preparing to meet the invaders. And then Taras has to act like his literary namesake, Taras Bulba. He does not kill his son, no, he captures him and gives him to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But only in the end, Taras learns that Oleh managed to escape and go over to the enemy side.
In the meantime, his younger son Mykola evacuates civilians to the bomb shelters his father built, which everyone once considered unnecessary.
In the end, the entire Sirenko family, together with other peaceful residents, falls into the epicenter of hell. The whole world mourns them, but they survive. Noah's ark does reach the ground.
PROJECT TEAM
ALINA SEMERIAKOVA, scriptwriter
Playwright, screenwriter, academician of the Ukrainian Film Academy, jury member of the Teletriumf National Award, and member of Ukrainian State Film Agency expert commission. The winner of two Teletriumph Awards for Best Screenplay (series Anna German) and Best Docudrama (Kill Stalin, Searching for the Truth, STB). She was born in Kherson on May 13, 1979. 2002 - graduated from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (specialization: TV journalist) 2006 – graduated from the Institute of Cinema and Television of Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts (specialization: director) She worked as a journalist for the newspaper Den, the magazine PiC (Ukrainian: «ПіК»), the head of the historical project of docudrama Searching for the Truth (STB), the head of the reality show MasterChef (STB), the head of the screenwriting course of Film.UA film school. Screenwriter of feature films and more than 20 series, including Viddana – full-length drama, Robbery in Ukrainian (Ukrainian: «Пограбування по-українськи») – full-length comedy, Secret Love (Ukrainian: «Таємне кохання») – melodrama, 16 episodes Anna German – biopic drama, 10 episodes, Contract (Ukrainian: «Контракт») – full-length drama, I love my husband («Я кохаю свого чоловіка») – comedy, 4 episodes, Teaching to play the guitar (Ukrainian: «Навчаю грати на гітарі») – melodrama, 4 episodes, The Arithmetic of Insidiousness (Ukrainian: «Арифметика підступності») – drama and others.
NATALIA STRYBUK, producer
Chief producer of film and series production department of LLC TRK Ukraina, academician of the Ukrainian Film Academy, winner of the main prize of the East of the West competition program at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (House with a Turret), winner of a double award Golden Duke for Best Full-Length Ukrainian Film at Odesa International Film Festival (Song of Songs), winner of Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers award for Best Feature Film (Song of Songs). Graduated from Odesa National University (Faculty of Romano-Germanic Philology) and Kyiv National University (Faculty of Journalism). Work experience: chief producer of film and series production at TV channel Ukraina, creative producer of the Foreign Enterprize 1+1 Production, creative producer of Odesa Film Studio, editor-in-chief of Afisha Odesa (Ukrainian: «Афіша Одеси») magazine, host of the morning show at Prosto Radi.O radio station. Producer of more than 60 series, including Markus, Secret Love (Ukrainian: «Таємне кохання»), To Marry Casanova (Ukrainian: «Одружити Казанову»), The Last Moskal, Ruby Ring, Song of Songs, Kovalchuk the Heart Doctor, Kapitansha, Artist, Mother's Heart, On the Life Line (Ukrainian: «На лінії життя»), Eclipse and others.