LIFE edition launched a special project "Moments of Spring"

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Victory, the LIFE team used neural networks to revive archival photographs from 1945.

The editors put together a video clip from the revived photos, Leonid Agutin performed the famous "Song about a Distant Homeland" specially for May 9, and the video sequence for it was animated footage of the spring of 1945.

Maxim Iksanov, CEO of News Media Holding: "We are talking about historical memory in a new language: important, honest and technologically advanced. Projects like "Moments of Spring" become a point of contact between generations — informal, visual, emotional. This is a common cause of all those involved in the development of the media world today."

Denis Arapov, CEO of the joint editorial board of LIFE and SHOT: "We wanted the audience to at least remotely feel the joy that people felt in May 1945 - the euphoria of meeting loved ones and the advent of long—awaited peace. Thanks to modern technologies and a creative alliance with Leonid Agutin, we managed to revive these shots for future generations."

The project aroused the interest of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation. Lyubov Soldatkina, Head of the Patriotic Work Department of the Foundation, emphasizes the importance of the project for the formation of a lively interest in history, especially among young people. According to Lyubov Andreevna, in the conditions of modern conflicts and tension, the role of such projects in strengthening national unity and patriotism is great: "Both the Great Patriotic War and the special military operation are events that resonate in every family now. This is our common national memory. Such projects form a national identity, reminding us of what unites us."

The initiative was also supported by the head of the State Duma's Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov.

Ekaterina Mizulina, director of the Safe Internet League, noted that such projects are very important during the period of confrontation with the West: "Of course, such projects are extremely important in modern conditions when the West is trying to rewrite world history, trying to belittle the role of the Soviet soldier, the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War, World War II. And, of course, in conditions when Nazism has grown in full force again, including on the territory of Europe, it is necessary to remember those events, to protect all information about the feat of our ancestors, to tell young people and teenagers about it, because many, unfortunately, do not know about it. They don't know the history of their family, they don't know about the feat of their grandfathers, great-grandfathers."

Initially, the images appeared on media facades across Russia, provoking a response from millions of people. After seeing such a reaction, it was decided to create a video with animated photos to the "Song of a Distant Homeland" performed by Leonid Agutin.