Bogdan brings the body of his beloved woman, Ukraine, in his arms. Appearing in the dark in-between space, Ukraine interacts with The Witch and The Child, trying to foresee the future, while Bogdan reflects on the past of Ukraine. The refugees search for Ukraine in an endless desert. The Artist searches for a new sense of artistic creation while living through war trauma. In different settings and ways, all the characters walk the path towards rethinking and reconnecting to their cultural and historical narratives as well as gaining back hope for the future.

 

Using a poetic symbolic language, Between Before and After approaches war in a global cultural, historical, and psychological context. Inspired by the war dreams of Ukrainians, the film revolves around the impact of war on an individual and collective psychic space. It considers different elements of Ukrainian culture in relation to the present and contains references to the Ukrainian novel by Lina Kostenko entitled Berestechko. Like a collage, the film with its dream-like structure consists of several chapters and storylines that intertwine and develop throughout the work, thus creating a cohesive picture. Through the prism of the war, the film offers a poetic view on freedom, love, coping with loss and trauma, decision-making and positioning, as well as life and death – observed from the standpoint of "Between Before and After."