FILMS BYKIDS

[somber music] - [Narrator] Ukrainian teen Tymur Tsapliienko loves playing basketball and dreams of becoming a pilot.

But those dreams are on hold, because Tymur fled Ukraine when the Russian army invaded his country.

- The war broke out in my homeland.

I didn't expect this at all.

- [Narrator] Displaced from his home and his family, Tymur, with guidance from filmmaker Rom Barnea, documents his refugee story- - It's hard to talk about it.

- [Narrator] And his longing to return.

- [Tymur] I don't know how and when this war will end and when I will be able to come back home.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] - [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by... Additional funding by... [somber music] - I miss my home.

I miss my friends, my family.

I miss my balcony, my room, my school, kashtan trees, playing basketball with my brother, and just sitting in his car.

I miss trips to the Black Sea.

I miss anything that has to do with aviation, 'cause I love planes so much.

I miss the forest near my grandma's place.

I miss Kyiv.

I miss my dad.

I miss my country.

[somber music continues] This is me, Tymur.

I'm 17 years old, from Kyiv, capital of Ukraine.

But now I live outside my country because of the war.

This is my brother Vova.

He's a pilot and a filmmaker.

This is my mother, Olha.

She's a journalist.

She doesn't like to be in front of the camera, so you're not going to see her a lot.

This is my father, Andrii.

He's a journalist too, a war journalist.

The war broke out in my homeland.

I didn't expect this at all.

Like in the evening, you're having fun, and the next morning, you wake up when your parents tell you that your hometown is being shelled.

It took only 12 hours to change completely everything.

[dramatic music] On 24th of February, 2022, the Russian army invaded my home.

Millions of people became refugees like me.

I escaped war along with my mother.

My father and brother are still in Ukraine.

Men in the army age cannot leave without a special permit.

I don't know when and how this war will end and when I will be able to come back home.

I'm making this movie to show what war did to my friends, to my family.

It is also a chance for me to meet my father, who is now on the front lines of the war.

My father, he went to Iraq, he went to Afghanistan, he went to a lot of war zones, but when you get war in your own country, it hits you another way.

We are having this conversation, everything seems so good, and then he says, "Oh, no, no, there is, a bomb's coming."

[civilians shouting in Ukrainian] - [Tymur] His job really matters right now, show the world what's going on in Ukraine.

He was recently injured in one of the Russian bombardments.

Right now, I'm in Germany staying in the monastery, the beautiful place in the Alps.

I still feel like I don't belong here.

I feel lost.

What the hell I'm doing here.

I want to go home.

But you can't do this thing.

And that's the most sad thing here.

[Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [gentle music] [Vova speaks in Ukrainian] - My brother used to bring me with him to the airfield and that was the place where I first saw an aircraft.

It was so close.

And I think that was the start of my dream.

Then I had the opportunity to fly an aircraft myself.

We've got this, you know, little flights near Kyiv.

The moment you got this opportunity to control it, those feelings are beautiful.

[gentle music continues] There are other refugees like me that have found asylum in this ancient monastery in Germany.

Some of them my age.

[Bohdan speaks in Ukrainian] [Bohdan speaks in Ukrainian] [Bohdan speaks in Ukrainian] [Bohdan speaks in Ukrainian] [gentle piano music] - [Tymur] After Bohdan, I met Angelina to get another perspective on how one experiences war.

[Angelina speaks in Ukrainian] [Angelina speaks in Ukrainian] [Angelina speaks in Ukrainian] [Angelina speaks in Ukrainian] [Angelina speaks in Ukrainian] [monastery bells ringing] [dramatic music] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [gentle music] - Now I'm heading out to meet my father.

We managed to get him a special permit to leave Ukraine and meet me halfway between here and there.

[gentle music continues] This is the footage of street fighting in Severodonetsk, which is now the place with the most rapid hostilities ongoing right now.

[gentle music continues] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] Other teenagers from Ukraine are away from their homes right now but still manage to help others, like Arina.

[Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Arina speaks in Ukrainian] [Arina speaks in Ukrainian] [Arina speaks in Ukrainian] [Arina speaks in Ukrainian] [Arina speaks in Ukrainian] [Arina speaks in Ukrainian] [Arina speaks in Ukrainian] [gentle music] - There was a massive shelling of Kharkiv yesterday.

15 people died.

It was all of the rockets and everything came out of Russia.

They shelled us from their territory.

[Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] - It's hard to talk about it.

You just don't want to say anything.

It's just hate and it is the hate and that is all that you feel.

Give me a second, sorry.

[gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] - That is really good to hear such words from my dad and to realize that we're close to him right now and that he's coming.

Yes.

We're meeting my father right now on this driveway.

So we got one shot to do it right.

I think I heard my father's voice just a couple of seconds before.

Yeah, I can feel it!

[horn honks] Good afternoon, sir.

I got the better parking place there, just follow me.

- [Andrii] Oh, yeah.

[Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [All laughing] - This is your school certificate.

Tsapliienko Tymur has got- - [Tymur] I had to finish my high school studies on Zoom.

I couldn't celebrate my graduation with my friends and teachers.

Most of us escaped to other countries because of the war.

- Most important message, I think, is to get more education.

Uneducated people are very easy to manipulate, are very easy to believe in, you know, in superstitious things, in unfair things.

It's easier to assure them they are better than others.

This is the only way to to change this world, I think.

[aircraft roaring] [Vova speaks in Ukrainian] - In Ukraine we don't, we are unable to see any planes in the sky, just Russian military planes.

- Since, February 24, yeah.

[ominous music] [Vova speaks in Ukrainian] [Vova speaks in Ukrainian] [Vova speaks in Ukrainian] [gentle music] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] [Tymur speaks in Ukrainian] - I fulfilled this vision of filming the planes that I love so much along with my brother.

I really can't wait for this war to end and for me to go back home and learn how to become a pilot myself.

[air raid sirens wailing] Today, my hometown was shelled again by the Russian military.

15 rocket launches.

They hit civilian buildings, including a building that is a couple of blocks away from my home, where I spent all my life.

It's horrible.

- Before this war, there is always a safe place in the world called home.

Now we don't have safe place anymore in this world.

We feel ourselves a bit homeless, not protected.

- When do you expect us to go back home?

- Seriously?

- Seriously.

I don't know.

Because the situation in Ukraine is getting worse.

Nobody knows the result of this war.

I believe that we will win, but it could be a victory on ruins.

I don't want you to be the part of the ruins.

You are my life and I don't want to lose you.

That's it.

That's why I didn't know when or whether you come back to Kyiv.

- I felt a lot of hatred inside me and that feeling it curses and poisons you.

What you might suggest how may I handle it?

I advise you not to lose your energy for hatred.

- Well, it's easy to say.

- Try.

It is not easy to do.

- Yeah, that's not the part I'm asking about.

I'm asking about the part where how to handle it?

The energy goes for hatred anyway.

- Do something.

People need help.

People here, abroad, you know, millions of Ukrainians who live here, they need help one way or another.

So just, you know, just direct your energy this way.

[child shouting] - Unfortunately, I do not know when I'm going to meet my father again.

Like we can't make plans that further right now, because of the situation ongoing.

And this is, well, this is tough, yeah.

Just say goodbye and, yeah.

I'm trying not to think of it a lot but yeah, it's hard to say goodbye not knowing when he's going to come back.

How much time are we going to spend away from each other?

Yeah, so... [somber music] [birds chirping] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [Andrii speaks in Ukrainian] [somber music] [uplifting music] [uplifting music] [uplifting music] - [Announcer] Major funding for this program is provided by... Additional funding by... For more information on Films BYkids, visit thirteen.org/filmsbykids.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music]