This is a documentary about how activist Maksym Ostiak started to turn an abandoned building in the center of Kyiv into a creative space. He said: “For there to be light, you have to take a shovel and fuck the pit.” On 4 July 2022, Maksym was killed on the frontline during the war waged by Russia against Ukraine. We will all remember the courage, diligence, and bravery with which Maksym lived and worked for Ukraine.

The idea for the film came about in late winter 2016. Initially, we wanted to make a short fiction video that would encourage Ukrainians to get to work and create their own future, their own lives and their own art. Having lived with the activists on the Art Platform without most of the benefits of civilization, filmmaker Dmytro Kaminskyi heard a lot of stories about the obstacles they had to overcome on their way to art, surviving threats from the local 'oligarchy' and going through a lot of bureaucratic red tape. Then we decided to film around the clock how everything really happens. That's how all the footage turned into a documentary. Work and art are the light at the end of the dark tunnel of uncertainty and problems. It is an indirect path to peace and spiritual balance.