Do it yourself.

“This project turned out to be some kind of a memorial to us about careless times from the past that maybe we all didn’t appreciate enough. Summer 2021 was our last peaceful summer and some of the last months of Russia we used to know and understand. This was the wonderful world we loved to enjoy and share with people around from inside and outside the country.

The philosophy behind the DIY movement is about using your own passion to make your own little world a better place for living. The decisions that were made by our regime but not our people around the end of February took us in an absolutely opposite direction. We don’t feel safe anymore. We don’t feel even normal. We don’t want to be where we are right now and we are shocked by the current agenda around us. Today’s situation spread anxiety around. The future is very unclear. At least we can look back at our past and enjoy nostalgia about those times when our friends were up to skating and creating. We’ll appreciate your time watching our piece. We wish you to stay safe wherever you are.”

“Do it yourself” is a documentary directed by Petr Barabaka about the first notable shoots of DIY initiatives among Russian skaters from Saint-Petersburg and Novosibirsk. The story is based on the everyday life of skaters from the outskirts of big Russian cities who took the initiative to make their environment a better place for the community and people around them.