Family Squad
Killed by a mistake, a lonely loser must find one person who truly needs him to live again.
Serhii, a 33-year-old gas station attendant, a typical loser, is hit by a truck due to the mistake of the cat Mickey - the angel of death. The divine forces are ready to give Serhii a second chance, but in order to return to life, he must find at least one person who really needs him. The search leads our characters to the frontline in the Chop Pirates division, and here, everything in Serhii's life boils over: love, betrayal, friendship, adventures, trials. The protagonist is unable to find his father, but he eventually grows up and finds father in himself.
Screenwriters' note
Family Squad began in Ukraine, where people are living through extraordinary circumstances that reveal, more sharply than ever, how much love, human connection and belonging truly matter. Behind the concept is Antonio Lukich, the project's creative producer and one of the strongest young voices in Ukrainian cinema, who brought together a writing team from Transcarpathia — a region where four borders meet and where, after the collapse of the USSR, smuggling became a way of survival. That heritage runs through the film: its world is full of smugglers, tricksters and the warm, self-deprecating humour of the region. The story is also deeply personal. One of us is, in essence, telling his own story — about a father who left in childhood and a long journey to adulthood without a role model — which is why the search for a father, and the discovery of the father within oneself, sits at the heart of the film.
Our key to this material is humour and irony. In recent years humour has become something of a Ukrainian superpower, and we use it deliberately: the angel of death is a black cat, Saint Peter is a Roma smuggler, and the front line becomes a dangerous adventure. This lightness is not avoidance — it lets us approach serious themes of life, death, war, second chances and personal responsibility without sentimentality, and keep them accessible to young adults and families with teenagers. We approach the war not as a subject in itself but as a moment of crisis — a boundary between life and death where every value takes on a clear contour, and where one ordinary, lonely young man can finally grow up. By grounding a universal parable in the recognisable Carpathians and the texture of our own time, we aim for a story that is at once specific and shared — honest, funny and true.
Director's note
Despite the easy genre of comedy, the core is philosophical. In visual style, we combine life-affirming bright pictures, certain mockery, and caricatures with the actual images of the parable itself, crises, and insights. Main visual solution is the contrast between the characters and the set design. We emphatically blend the simple and primitive forms and colors of the characters with the voluminous and complex set design. Backgrounds and locations are almost illustrations but with cartoonish, exaggerated, and deformed geometry. We strive for the universality of the story to be combined with the uniqueness of the region where it unfolds, as well as for the features of our contemporary time, its complex halftones, and problems to be recognized. This synthesis of simplification and exaggeration with realism allows us to get a balanced sense of truth and fiction, creating a unique cinematic artistry. We pay a lot of attention to small elements which convey the atmosphere and mood.
Producer's note
Family Squad is a Ukrainian feature animation dramedy about second chances, growing up, family and belonging. As producers we are driven by the chance to tell a story born from today's Ukrainian reality but built around universal emotions, using humour, action and fantasy to approach life, death, war and personal responsibility in a way accessible to young adults and families with teenagers. The project is a European co-production between Ukraine, Germany and Czechia: Animagrad leads creative development and production supervision, while PFX and Telescope Animation add complementary artistic, technical and dramaturgical input, preserving Ukrainian authorship while strengthening the film for European audiences. Our strategy is to complete the financing structure, reinforce international positioning and prepare a clear path to production, theatrical release and circulation. At this stage we are looking for partners in financing, distribution, sales, broadcasting, regional funds and festival strategy. Baltic Event would bring the project into a wider European industry and co-production context.
Profile
Founded in 2012 as part of FILM.UA Group, Animagrad is one of the leading animation studios in Central and Eastern Europe, developing and producing animated feature films and series for international audiences and providing high-quality 2D/3D animation services for global partners. Its editorial line focuses on original stories combining strong cultural identity with universal themes and high entertainment value for theatrical, TV and digital distribution. Recognised as Ukraine's leading animation company, Animagrad regularly takes part in Cartoon Movie, MIFA Annecy, Marche du Film, EFM and Series Mania. Key titles: Mavka. The Forest Song (2023, 1.23M+ admissions in Ukraine, sold to 148 countries, $21M+ worldwide) and The Stolen Princess (2018, first Ukrainian film released theatrically in China).