Director Piotr Pawlus and producer/co-writer Ruoyao Jane Yao present their documentary *Death in the Making* in the international competition of Visions du Réel, in which the film depicts the daily lives of ordinary Ukrainians whose existence was disrupted by the Russian invasion. Pawlus combined verité footage with analog photography during a journey throughout Ukraine, sometimes filming just a few hundred meters from the front lines. Editing proved difficult because the director underwent heart surgery that kept him from work for months. The independently funded production, supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, will continue to be screened on the festival circuit following Nyon.