On 26th April 1986, reactor 4 of Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine exploded. In the following months thousands of young conscripted soldiers were drafted into the area from all over the Soviet Union and deployed for the clean-up operation. Few of them were aware of the danger they were in.

This is the story of the adventurer Valeri Sikorski from Chernobyl. When the doctors tell him that his days are numbered, Valeri takes off. England is his destination. But first he travels to Berlin to pick up his old friend Victor – the dream of England is a shared promise of their youth. He wants to take him along. But Victor has disappeared.

And Valeri will look for him. –Berlinale

Director

Achim von Borries

Achim von Borries was born in Munich in 1968. He studied History, Political Science and Philosophy at the Free University in Berlin from 1989-1993. He then enrolled at the German Film & Television Academy dffb in Berlin and graduated in 2000. His critically acclaimed graduation film England! received 15 international awards and the German Film Critics Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. Further work includes the direction of several short films and the conception of the TV series Berlin Boomtown together with Hendrik Handloegten, with whom he also worked on the screenplay to Good Bye, Lenin!. In 2003, he was awarded the Director’s Prize from the labor union ver.di. —german-films.de