Dear Beautiful Beloved
In Ukraine, volunteers preserve humanity by caring for the living and the dead.
Amid the devastation of Russia’s war in Ukraine new forms of care are emerging to protect the living and honour the deceased.
Elizabeth and Jonny, English aid workers from the British Expeditionary Aid and Rescue, are on the ground to care for Ukraine’s elderly and disabled – some blind, some crippled – working tirelessly to keep them safe and to identify those who have fallen. They embody resilience and represent the human side of the growing aid effort amid ongoing conflict.
Alongside them are volunteers tasked with the grim responsibility of recovering bodies far from the front lines, with no fanfare, no glory. They face the heartbreaking duty of returning the dead to their families.
This film chronicles their unseen work, reminding us that such sacrifices should never be accepted as normal.
Juri Rechinsky (1986) is a director, editor and writer. He was born in Turkmenistan, raised in Ukraine and has been living in Vienna since 2013. His works have been shown at international film festivals, including Rotterdam, Hot Docs, São Paulo, and DOK Leipzig. His 2013 documentary “Sickfuckpeople” was shown at numerous film festivals and it won the Vienna Film Prize and the Heart of Sarajevo Award. He is a member of the European Film Academy and the Austrian Guild of Directors.
Sickfuckpeople (2013, doc, co-dir), Ugly (2017), Signs of War (2022, doc), Dear Beautiful Beloved (2024, doc)