Hrytsko knows nothing about his grandfather, who vanished from the family before the boy was born. When news comes of the old man’s mysterious disappearance, Hrytsko travels to a decaying village to claim his inheritance. There, among the ruins of a forgotten life, he receives a strange object: doll-like toy house.
At first, the house seems like a harmless relic. But then he notices something—or someone—inside. A tiny girl lives within it, trapped in a loop of idyllic moments. As Hrytsko watches her, he finds comfort in her world. Time slows. Reality slips. His schoolwork, friendships, and even love fade into the background. The house begins to feel more real than his own life.
He doesn’t know that the same house once consumed his grandfather. The closer he draws to the girl inside, the more he steps away from himself. The toy house becomes a gateway to Mandalay—a dreamlike realm where there is no pain, no routine, no failure. But the paradise is false.
Inspired by Kipling’s poem, Mandalay toys with the idea of illusion: the original poem dreams of a coastal utopia with flying fish—but the real Mandalay has no sea. Hrytsko’s Mandalay is just as deceptive. When he asks to stay in that perfect world forever, his girlfriend Olena must fight to pull him back.
In the climax, Hrytsko crosses the threshold and meets his lost grandfather within the house. There, behind the illusion, he discovers the dark core of Mandalay—a hollow place built from denial, addiction, and forgotten truths.
The house burns. Then it reappears elsewhere, untouched—its curse intact. Because evil can be defeated, but not destroyed.
Mandalay is a haunting fable about the cost of escapism and the danger of mistaking fantasy for freedom. Behind every beautiful illusion, something is waiting.

Directed by Askold Oksanich (Ukraine)