Exploring Ukraine’s Underground Rave Revolution

The 2014 revolution brought Kiev nightlife to a complete standstill. As protests turned into riots, and government security forces opened fire on protestors, the country fell into crisis. But out of the ashes of revolution has risen a new generation. Slava Lepsheev, who’d lost his job because of the financial crisis triggered by the war, had had enough, and started Cxema, a raw, hard and hypnotic techno rave that he took to whatever semi-legal venue he could set a soundsystem up in. So together with Slava, and the city’s brightest young lights, we followed young Kiev as they prepared for a night at Cxema, from building the venue to watching the sunrise break. Director Tom Ivin Producer Kate Villevoye Local Fixer Lyuba Knorozok, Dmitry Kolchinsky Director of Photography Jack Reynolds Sound Denys Ryskal, Andrii Vaskovski, Viktor Savin Lighting Stanislav Bezpechnyi Production Assistant Andrii Bezliudnyi Editor Paul Frankl, Rebecca Gin Colourist Oisín O’Driscoll at