Feature Film
I WORK AT THE CEMETERY
Directed by 
Oleksii Taranenko
AFIN 2021 Nominee
- 2021
- 1h 40m
-
Ukraine - Polish, Ukrainian
- Drama
- Comedy
Stills
2 framesPart of this film's cast or crew? Let us know to add or correct credits, genres or details. Filmmaker sign-in opens with the claim email at Awards Night, 19 September 2026.
Credits
Written by
Produced by
Synopsis
Forgiving the mistakes, learning to love and stop being afraid of life - it is rather difficult to cope with at the cemetery, but it is quite possible. Even though it sometimes seems that the cemetery is not outside, but inside of you.
Sasha - a man of about 35 - manager of a firm that installs tombstones at the cemetery. He has a lot of customers, each of whom experiences a personal tragedy. However, Sasha is full of cynicism and irony. One day his 14-year-old daughter appears to return her father into her life. Sasha also meets a young business lady who has just buried her son and a lonely old man who has ordered a tombstone for himself. Sasha becomes involved in the struggle for power between the “eminence grise” of the cemetery and the new manager. And in this whirl of personal tragedies and criminal clashes, it gradually becomes clear that Sasha has a severe psychological trauma because of what happened in his past.
Director's Statement
First of all, our film is a tragicomedy, where deeply tragic things are interwoven very closely with the comic ones. This inter-genre swinging always appeals to the viewer (let’s remember the hits - Forrest Gump, films by Georgiy Daneliya, etc.). In addition, the story is also a professional drama, telling about the people of not very popular professions - all those who work at the cemetery. The very topic helps us to get the viewers interested with something they have never and nowhere seen before. The bright examples of symbiosis of the powerful professional drama and melodrama are Arrhythmia by Boris Khlebnikov. Despite the recurring theme of the loss and its acceptance the film is about life. It tells that the life is short, surprising, that everything has its end and the death is a part of life. That we are alive until we love. That no people disappear until they are remembered and that in our grief we shouldn’t forget the living people who need our love so much.
What makes this one special
- 3 awards at other festivalsMontelupo Fiorentino International Independent Film Festival · Munich Film Awards · Ukrainian Film Critics Awards
- Programmed at 11 other festivalsAcross 8 countries
- A first-time filmmaker
Also selected at
3 awards, 8 official selections across 11 other festivals
- WinnerMontelupo Fiorentino International Independent Film Festival
- WinnerMunich Film Awards
- WinnerUkrainian Film Critics Awards
- SelectionInternational Film Festival Prague
- SelectionStockholm Independent Film Festival
- SelectionBritish Independent Film Festival
- SelectionFerrara Film Festival
- SelectionKyiv IFF Molodist
- SelectionMiddlebury New Filmmakers Festival
- SelectionThe Calvert Journal Film Festival
- SelectionWarsaw International Film Festival
Recorded by the filmmaker on their entry.
Director's Biography
Oleksii Taranenko Director
2020 - I WORK AT THE CEMETERY narrative film, director; 2019 - RANDOM PASSENGER narrative short film, director, screenwriter; 2018 - SCREENING, narrative short film, director, screenwriter, editor; Awards: 2017 - Advertising film LONELINESS Kyiv International Advertising Festival, category films, section consumer services 3-d place, Ukraine; 2015 - Screenplay of short film RANDOM PASSENGER, special award of The Word Coronation contest at the Kinoscript festival, Ukraine; 2013 - Documentary AFTERTASTE STYLING, special mention at The Film Skillet Documentary Film Contest (USA).
Fuller cast & crew
Wiktoria Gorodecka Olena 
Viktor Zhdanov Petrovych 
Ihor Ciszkewycz Suvorov 
Maksym Donets Ihor 
Andrii Isaienko Valera 
Yevhen Oliinyk Policeman 
Damian Shiyan Sasha's Son 
Oleksii Trytenko Fedorenko 
Yaroslav Bezkorovainyi Hlib 
Olena Khokhlatkina Mother 
Oksana Zhdanova Daughter 
Igor Salimonov Man with a Briefcase 
Rymma Zyubina Woman in a Black Hat 
Halyna Kornieieva Crazy Woman 
Nina Naboka Janitor - Олександр Абаєв Florist 1
- Roman Sobolevskyi Florist 2
Editor
Viktor Maliarenko 
Oleksandr Chornyi
Writer
- Pawel Belyanskiy
Producer
- Maksym Leshchanka
Director of Photography
- Viacheslav Rakovskyi
Original Music Composer
Nikita Budash
Executive Producer
- Taras Bosak
- Veronika Kryzhna
Production Design
- Іван Тищенко
Details and imagery from The Movie Database This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.