Street racing in a bombed-out mall—where the only finish line is survival.
A group of friends in frontline Kharkiv discovers abandoned cars inside a war-shuttered shopping mall and turns them into the core of an underground racing scene. What begins as an escape from reality quickly becomes a rule-free game powered by bets, clout, and danger. As adrenaline and social-media fame escalate, every race could be their last, and the stakes now include friendship, trust, and holding on to who they are.
Cinematography
Kharkiv locations—real destruction, real beauty, zero CGI.
Direction
Lytvynenko shoots racing like combat footage.
Production
Abandoned mall as set—production design from actual war.
Director
Artem Lytvynenko
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Filmed in actual de-occupied Kharkiv; some crew members were territorial defense volunteers between takes.
The 'underground racing' subculture exploded in Ukraine post-2022 among young men unable to leave—this dramatizes a real coping mechanism.
UA
