As part of the competition program of documentary films of the 19th Sarajevo Film Festival, yesterday in Multiplex Cinema City the Ukranian documentary film ‘SickFuckPeople’ by director Jury Rechinsky on children and young people from 12-20 who have decided to live on the street.
This documentary was seen by audiences throughout the world, but not in Ukraine, due to which Rechinsky today said to the SFF public that there might be hope for these people if the documentary was seen in their home country.
Most of the actors of the film have families or they were raised by a single parent who was an alcoholic and who found a boyfriend or husband at one point in their lives. According to the testimony of the actors in the film, the stepfather became abusive towards them.
This is why these young people at an early age reach rational, mature and reasoned decisions to leave their homes, but they do not make a decent living on the streets.
Rechinsky’s film speaks of several children and young people that live in basements in unbearable conditions, and where it is possible to get all kinds of diseases and infections. The kids also begin to use drugs there.
‘’Those are not really drugs. Those are tablets that are bought in pharmacies, and are crumbled and mixed with other substances. After that, that is not drugs any longer but rather it is poison. At a moment when children feel dizziness, it is not really the actual state of stupor, but they feel that way because a part of their brain is dying. Those who use drugs lose the ability to speak, and it becomes difficult to move’’, explained the director.
It is enough to take the drugs once and the consequences could be incalculable, which is noticeable in children of drug addicts.
Responding to questions about the film, he said that, after he saw children in the basement for the first time, his reality changed significantly. He said that he cried softly, and at the same time was in shock because it was the first time he saw young people injecting themselves with drugs.
In the three years that he worked on the film, he met around 100-150, but underlined that it is sufficient that the lives of seven of them are shown, and the director also expressed dissatisfaction at the state institutions that allow this to happen and do not care about them.
The film did not leave anyone indifferent, and many asked themselves why the children would agree to be filmed, while Rechinsky stressed that they did not do this for the money, since the film crew could not give them any because they would spend it on drugs, but they promised them food, transport to the hospital and if they need to speak with someone.
In the film there is also one couple that wishes to have a child even if their lives are in disarray, and the director said that the only bright spot is that they have a child and decided to raise it, while the rest of the actors in the film stopped taking drugs, but have become alcoholics.
