Schoolboy from Lviv makes English-language LEGO cartoon about Vasyl Stus

Oles Vorona, a 14-year-old schoolboy from Lviv, made a short animated film called “Human. Stus” about the dissident poet Vasyl Stus. Vorona made all the characters and sets (from prison cells and Alla Gorska’s stained-glass windows to the Ukraine cinema) himself using LEGO elements.

“‘Human. Stus’ is my short animated film about Ukrainian poet and human rights activist Vasyl Stus. It took four months and over 4,000 frames to create,” Vorona wrote.

The cartoon was translated into English. The voiceover, created using artificial intelligence, recreates a series of episodes from the poet’s life: meeting his future wife Valya at dancing, their dreams of a life together, Stus’s conversations about Gorska’s art, and the protest at the Ukraine cinema. 

“Those who are against tyranny, stand up,” says the protagonist in the protest scene.

Vorona is a ninth grader at one of Lviv’s schools. He is passionate about history, photography, and animation and practices karate.

“The Soviet Union shot more than 100,000 people in Bykivnia. For years, piles of bodies decayed in that forest, hidden from the world, and no one knew of the atrocity. Ukrainian creative intellectuals were relentlessly persecuted and murdered. … Now history is repeating itself. But even in the most difficult conditions, Stus urged his family to remain kind in his letters. To everyone and everything. To be a candle in the darkness. And to be brave. Because the world needs brave and good people. Like Stus,” Vorona wrote.

The first to speak about the cartoon was Vorona’s teacher Maria Vorotylo, who had taught Vorona history online. She expressed pride in her student and his efforts to promote Ukrainian culture.

Watch the full video here.

RELATED: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 features soundtracks inspired by Vasyl Stus’ poetry

Main collage: ShoTam

Image: a screenshot from the cartoon

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn