10 facts about ‘There Will Be Humans’, a historical saga based on Anatoly Dimarov’s novel

Premiere of 12-episode film ‘There Will Be Humans’ produced by FILM.UA Studio and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine will take place on STB this autumn. The events take place in Poltava region during the troublous times of the 20th century: the First World War, the revolution, the establishment of the Soviet state. 12 episodes. 12 main characters. 12 extraordinary destinies. A story of dramatic changes, passionate love, and value of a human life.

We present top 10 facts about the film:

1. The work on the project lasted for 5 years. It was started in 2015, when FILM.UA Group signed an agreement on screen version of the novel with Mrs. Yevdokia Dimarova, the writer's widow.

2. The Director, Arkady Nepytaliuk, was not going to work on TV series again after the success of ‘Blood Sausage (Krovyanka)’ and ‘Pryputni’ movies, but just fell in love with the project. However, he agreed to be its director only with the second try:

“As for me ‘There will be humans’ series worthy primarily because this story will show modern Ukrainians how their great-grandparents managed to survive and remain humans in inhuman conditions. It will be a necessary and useful example for today’s world,” said the Director.

3. More than 120 actors appeared in the series. The casting was held all over Ukraine. Apart from Kyiv, actors came from Lviv, Ternopil, Mykolayiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Uzhhorod, Odessa, and other cities.

4. The novel's author, Anatoly Dimarov, witnessed times of turmoil at the beginning of the century. His mother with very young Anatoly and his brother had to leave her native village and change her surname to escape dekulakization. She is one of the main characters of both the book and the film.

5. Music for the series was written by Roman Cherenov, a young and extremely talented composer. And two main songs, which became the leading motive, were created by LELEKA, the Ukrainian-German folk jazz band. These musical pieces are versions of the Ukrainian folk song 'Cuckoo'.

6. A unique location was built specifically for the project – 'Ivasiut hamlet'. It was located in a picturesque area of Kyiv region by Barakhty village. The road for the passage of machinery was build, and 20 tons of gravel were used for this.

7. The location lived a life of a real Ukrainian village: horses, pigs, geese, chickens, dogs were kept there during the filming. Also a real ox appeared in the series.

8. The pond bed, to which the actors had to fall under the script, was previously inspected by divers for safety.

9. During the filming process, three staged fires were organized. One of the houses was specially built only to be dramatically burnt later. It happened on the Halloween night.

10. The wardrobe department used about a thousand costumes and more than 10 liters of paint to give these textures.