An excellent documentary on Ukrainian streaming rental service Takflix: The Babushkas of Chornobyl.
The documentary explores the story of a group of old ladies (the titular ‘babushkas’ - aka ‘grannies’). Living in the exclusion zone until the reactor meltdown, they evacuated along with everyone they knew. But, later in life, growing tired of living away from their homes, returned to the zone.
This is a really remarkable story - the women are interesting, compelling characters who you just feel a great affection towards, and seeing how they lived in the zone is fascinating.
The film was made before the invasion, before the occupation of Chornobyl. I sometimes wonder what became of these ladies - are they still alive? Were they still there when the russians arrived? What happened to them?
Really worth watching if you’ve got any interest in Chornobyl, the zone, or rural Ukrainian life.
The rental costs 95 Ukrainian hryvnias, or around £2, for a 70 minute film; besides some minor difficulties getting my card to transact overseas, I had zero problems using this service, and intend to rent from them again - they have a number of classic and modern Ukrainian films available, and a dedicated section for those with English subtitles.
Babushkas of Chornobyl! I love this film. I watched it many years ago now. It’s absolutely amazing. When the full scale invasion started and reports of Chornobyl being occupied spread, I immediately thought the same as you. What happened to Babushkas? I hope they are ok.
Believe it or not I did contact the Ukrainian embassy here in London to ask if they had any information about them, but unfortunately did not hear back. I’m sure replying to randos on the internet was not their highest priority of course! But still, I wouldn’t mind knowing.