About film
The film "Leonids history" was developed in cooperation between Tetyana Chernyavska and Rainer Ludwigs. Chernyavska and Ludwigs met during the filming of the movie "Give hope" for the Foundation "Children of Chernobyl".
Together with Rudiger Lubricht extensive interviews with Leonid and Ludmila Korzh were taken which form the substantive, authentic basis for the retelling of these life history in the shadow of the Chernobyl disaster.
Tetyana Chernyavska "discovered" the protagonist and together with Rainer Ludwigs (director) the story in a mixture of animation, photo collage and real documentary scenes was created.
A Soviet family searching for a modest paradise is swept into an immense disaster. This magically animated film combines drawing, photography and documentary video to capture the surreal emotions of the too-real tragedy: Chernobyl1986.
Leonid grew up in the village next to the reactor. The catastrophe broke his life, ruined his health, and threatened his unborn child. This animated film tells his story.
The film comprehends the development of this world disaster through the destiny of the protagonist and his family. The small episodes reconstruct the emotional dimension of the tragedy: The children which run to the burning reactor, getting a look on the spectacular drama, the unsuspecting village people in the surrounded area, the animals which remain behind after the evacuation, and the helpless tries of mankind to eliminate the follows of the nuclear disaster, accompanied with the faceless, communist Sovjet system.
After all there is a happy end: The triumph of life over the catastrophe.