Shanivka is a small village cut off from the big world, it lives its secluded life that resembles a disturbing dream. A quarter of a century ago there was a prosperous collective farm, but civilization retreated from this region long ago leaving behind nothing but ruins. Those who could do it left the village a long time ago. And here, in this field covered with wild grass, love germinates and grows, love wild and prickly, like a thistle bush.

A quiet and offish teenage girl fell in love with a married man. The village cannot accept their love, and therefore they are doomed to either exile or death.

A documentary featuring testimonies from people who remember the 1933 famine in Ukraine.

The Holodomor was a mass-scale, man-made famine organised in the Ukrainian SSR in 1932–1933 by the leadership of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the government of the USSR. Ukraine was the hardest hit, with millions of people dying of starvation. This famine has been recognised as genocide against the Ukrainian people. According to demographic estimates, the total number of victims of the Holodomor in the Ukrainian SSR is 3–7 million people. According to estimates by the M. Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine’s demographic losses as a result of the Holodomor in 1932–1933 amount to approximately 4.5 million people, including 3.9 million due to excess mortality and a further 600,000 due to a birth deficit.

The second film in Bno-Ayriyan’s series of seven films.

The plot centres on the stories of 60 individuals, including teachers, headteachers, university lecturers, vice-chancellors, and heads of educational institutions, as well as talented school pupils and students, convicted juveniles, military cadets, academics, and young researchers. This film is about those who learn and those who teach.