In 2016, AMO ZIL, the oldest Russian car factory, celebrated its hundredth anniversary. In the same year it produced its last commercial vehicle. At the moment, most of the production area of the plant has been demolished and construction of the residential complex ZILART is underway on the territory. The giant of the Russian automobile industry, which produced 200,000 cars a year and provided work for a hundred thousand people, now lies in ruins.

In 1991, our family moved to "Avtozavodskaya" metro station. Throughout my childhood, my brother and I used to go ice-skating at the "Torpedo" stadium and we would meet every New Year at the Palace of Culture ZIL. So I got to know ZIL in 90-s, when the factory was already on the verge of collapse. 

Now, it's important for me to understand what happened to people who dedicated all their lives to ZIL. Who now lives in the houses built for the factory workers? Do their grandchildren attend workshops at the Palace of Culture? Do they still have memories of the factory? Do they feel the connection? Or, together with the demolition of industrial buildings, has the history of the factory disappeared forever? 

I spoke with the old factory workers, trying to understand what ZIL meant for them and what they feel now when they gather together once a month at the retro evenings at the Palace of Culture. At the same time, it was also important for me to look back and try to investigate my own childhood. ZIL is part of my personal story as well, and story that I need to explore.