For the first time, Ukrainian series released on Netflix: The First Days trailer

The outbreak of the full-scale invasion was a tragedy, but also a manifestation of exceptional resilience and commitment. The authors of the stories in the feature series Those Who Stayed (The First Days) were inspired by the stories of the citizens who stayed in the capital in February-March 2022. These are ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary, frightening conditions, but who retained their humanity, love for their loved ones, and faith in the future.

The series released on Netflix on November 1 in Ukraine and a number of European countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Moldova, the Baltic and Balkan countries. This is the first time that a Ukrainian project will be premiered on the streaming service and in several countries at the same time. In addition, in more than 12 countries, such as Iceland, Australia, and France, it will be shown on national TV channels. In Ukraine, it will be also available on 1+1 TV channel next year.

"The First Days has become the largest co-production with other countries since February 2022. It is also the first Ukrainian project that was actually ordered by foreign channels, and it will be shown in Ukrainian," says Kateryna Vyshnevska, Development and Co-Production Director at FILM.UA Group and the project's producer.

At the first stages of the series' development, FILM.UA Group was joined by TV channels from Sweden (SVT), Norway (NRK) and Finland (YLE) as co-producers. The global distributor is the German company Red Arrow Studios International, with which the project was developed at the script level.

"The First Days consists of six stories by six directors, who were united by the idea of the showrunner Anastasia Lodkina. Talented Ukrainian artists joined the project: Oleksii Yesakov and Tala Prystaietska, who worked on the series Kriposna, Artem Lytvynenko, the author of the idea and director of the series Niukhach, Valentyn Shpakov, the author of Pershi Lastivky, and Pavlo Ostrikov, the author of Ty Kosmos. For Katia Tsaryk, the author of numerous music videos, concert shows, and the short film Obiymy Mene, the project was a first full-length work.

Each episode of The First Days is a feature film inspired by real events, and some of the characters have prototypes in real life. Olha and her children are forced to live in the same house with two husbands, one current and one former; Maksym is caught by the war at work, at the zoo, where he cannot leave; a homeless man living in a car helps the local volunteer organization, and a boy named Yehor calms himself by shooting down missiles like evil birds in his imagination; German Klaus comes to Kyiv to pick up a girl but finds himself among the volunteers and joins their work; and the Ukrainian pop legend, whose prototype was Andrii Danylko, streams from his apartment in the capital and becomes an inspiration for millions.

"Ukraine is now in the center of the world's attention, and foreign audiences are interested in learning what is happening to us not only from the news but on a deeper level. It is the format of the feature series that allows us to feel our pain and hopes more deeply and to relate to ordinary Ukrainians," says Anna Yelisieieva, the project's producer.

The project has already been supported by leading festivals, including TV Drama Vision, Helsinki Script, Conecta FICTION, Nordic Script, Content Budapest, Serial Killer, Oslo Series Day. Updates and additional information about the series are available on the Facebook and Instagram pages.

Created with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).