Death in the Making – Films

Piotr Pawlus
Netherlands, Poland | 2026 | 84 min
World premiere
Language : Ukrainian
Subtitles : English, French

Filmmaker and cinematographer Piotr Pawlus volunteered to the war effort in Ukraine, delivering aid from Poland and transporting civilian refugees. On the heels of In Ukraine (VdR 2023), he captures with visual power and compassion thesuffering and resilience of the Ukrainian people, the destruction wrought by the Russian invasion, and life continuing against all odds.

Director and DOP Piotr Pawlus became involved in the war in Ukraine as a volunteer, delivering aid from Poland and transporting fleeing civilians. With In Ukraine (2023, co-directed with Tomasz Wolski) first, and now Death in the Making, he has also dedicated his compassionate, crystal-clear gaze to documenting the lives and suffering of Ukrainians, and the destruction caused by the Russian full-scale invasion. On a journey through the country, from vulnerable villages and city shelters to the front line, an empathetic gaze captures the experiences of civilians, volunteers, and soldiers. The devastation is recounted through the eyes of those who witnessed it first-hand: although the camera missed the events, it collects testimonies. All we can see are ruins, but the voices superimpose the memories of a previous life of peace on the visible reality of war. “It seems quieter now,” one of them tells the camera: words of illusory relief that sound disheartening to the viewer, at a time when Russian attacks keep intensifying, with no end to the conflict in sight.

Sergio Fant

Death in the Making, 2026
In Ukraine, 2023