Preparing my new Documentary on D I M A

I first met Dima in Kherson. I was there to film the rescue efforts after the Nova Kakhovka dam was blown up, causing flood waters to rush through villages downstream of the dam along the Dniper river. An American woman named Micha involved in Christian aid work, who met Dima through said work, was the first to mention his name to me. I was embedded with German aid workers, and where preparing to go out on the water to do a rescue mission. The problem was that due to delays, and reports of Russian indirect tank fire recently in the area, some aid workers were more than hesitant to go on the water. That's when Micha spoke up and said that she knew that they would go out on the water because the aid worker she works with, Dima, is "crazy". I could tell she said this half jokingly, with affection, but it stuck with me. And when the Russians did shell the rescue team, and British expat volunteer John Jones stuck on the shoreline injured, Dima was one of those who went out during the bombing to help carry John into a bunker near the shoreline before he was evacuated to safety. It was an introduction to remember, and his voice can be heard retelling these events in my piece with OffBeat Research documenting the Russian targeting of aid workers in Kherson: https://youtu.be/NdTVY3r7Y-s?si=4SenR6jEhDYID3Ic

Since then, after learning more about Dima's civilian evacuation work from Mariupol, and just interacting with him, I made up my mind that I had to pursue a full embed and documentary about Dima. I traveled with him toward Orikhiv, Chasiv Yar, and other locations where the few remaining civilians somehow manage an existence between life and death. I filmed him delivering supplies, handing out phone numbers people can call to evacuate, and trying to convince those who endanger themselves, and even at times those who bring them supplies, to leave their frontline communities. From having to cross back and fourth across the front during the evacuation of Mariupol, evacuating civilians in vehicles missing tires, getting bombed countless times including direct hits on his aid van, his story sounds like decades of first responder work condensed into a two year period. All while working as a volunteer. It would be hard to believe if the photos and videos did show it clear as day. I think it really sunk it the type of man I was dealing with when he found out his body armor was broken, so he just taped the different body armor plates together and finished the volunteer mission anyway without a second thought (pictures attached).

I was fascinated by his dedication, which at sometimes the back of my mind I felt creeping on reckless abandon, in order to help his fellow countrymen in danger. He has displayed patience in dealing with those who wait on the frontline, those who stubbornly don't leave, that others might not have the same sympathy for. He approaches them from a principled unjudgmental position, one that many others would be unable or unwilling to. Yet while dealing with figures of authority and law, that patience can wear thin. He is someone who was raised by his mom to go to Russian school, and to work one day in Moscow to guarantee his future financial success, but now has that city bombing ordering the bombing of his home city of Dnipro. There is so much more I want to share about him that I find interesting, and I think represents a micro chasm of the Ukrainian story, and the unlikely hero's that are contained within it.

This is my next major project. We have finished translation of all footage and clarifying different answers to interview questions with Dima, and will pick up gear to produce and release this documentary. We were able to get Dima to agree to sit down with us outside of the embedded, for multiple days of sit down interviews. I think this will add more depth, and help the piece thrive. Excited to show you guys more than just these pictures.

Love you guys, thanks again for making projects like this possible.

-Dylan Burns