The documentary film To Die to Live by Ukrainian director Yuliya Hontaruk has been selected for the Special Screenings section of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
The film documents the personal experiences of three veterans and their attempts to adapt to civilian life after serving on the front line.
To Die to Live tells the stories of three young Ukrainians with the call signs Shakhta, Tantsyuryst and Honchar, who, despite having no military experience, volunteered to defend Ukraine in 2014. After spending two years at war, they gradually attempted to adapt to civilian life. However, following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, they were forced to return to the front line.
“Filmed over a period of 12 years, the film uses a fragmentary cinematic language to convey the trauma experienced by its protagonists, and thus helps viewers imagine the unimaginable: how to accept that some live while others die, and that — in the face of one’s own death — the desire to live remains the most important thing,” reads the synopsis.
The film is a co-production between Ukraine, Latvia and Slovakia.
Yuliya Hontaruk, a documentary filmmaker and co-founder of the creative collective BABYLON’13, has been working on the subject of the Russian-Ukrainian war virtually since its outset.
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will take place from 3 to 11 July 2026. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious film festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2025, three Ukrainian documentaries were screened at the festival: 2000 Metres to Andriyivka by Mstyslav Chernov, Timestamp by Kateryna Hornostay and Divia by Dmytro Hreshko, all of which competed in the main competition programme.