How the European Solidarity Fund (ESFUF) helps Ukrainian cinema?

The European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films (ESFUF) was launched by the French, German and Luxembourg Ministers of Culture on February 20, 2023, during the 73rd Berlinale. This multilateral fund aims to support Ukrainian filmmakers whose projects have been interrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 2022, or for whom it is difficult to launch new ones in this context. It also aims to encourage exchanges between professionals from contributing countries and Ukrainian professionals through co-productions. To date, the program has 20 contributors from 19 European countries, with a total budget of €1.7 million. It offers two types of support: development support (up to €25,000 for documentaries and €50,000 for fiction and animation) and completion support (up to €75,000 for all genres).

How does this scheme help Ukrainian filmmakers in practical terms? Two producers and two directors talk about its impact on their creative work. It's also an opportunity to take a closer look at their careers and the current state of Ukrainian cinema.

Natalia Libet Alina Rudya

Natalia Libet, producer (2Brave Productions)

In the current context, uncertainty is the greatest threat

“Cinema has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager. Before becoming a producer, I worked in finance for Ukrainian branches of American and German companies. I took my first steps into cinema in 2015 when I met Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravičius. In a year, in 2016, I helped him find financing for his fiction feature Parthenon (2019). At the same time, I also worked with other filmmakers. It was at this time that I decided to dedicate all my time and energy to film production. I met producer Olha Beskhmelnytsina, with whom I decided to partner. Five months after the outbreak of war, we launched 2Brave Productions. We worked on instinct, giving priority to the quality of our projects over questions of profitability or success. As a producer, I was able to benefit from both development support and finalization support from the Solidarity Fund.

The first time for the documentary Ashes Settling in Layers on the Surface (Zoya Laktionova) and the fiction The Blindsight (Ruslan Batytskyi); the second for the documentary Timestamp (Kateryna Gornostai), which follows students and teachers over the course of a school year during the war in Ukraine. Thanks to this Fund, we can continue to produce ambitious works. It also facilitates exchanges with other countries, enabling us to find co-producers in contributing countries. Raising financing is indeed a complex task, especially over the long term, as is the case for our latest project Timestamp. Production began in March 2023, and we already knew then that it would take at least two years to put it together. With the help of the finalisation grant, we can approach this process with more confidence. After that, we hope to be able to release the film in cinemas. Support like the Solidarity Fund helps us regain confidence in the future.”

Roman Liubyi, director Babylon Villeneuve

Roman Liubyi, director (Time Machine Maidan, Unholy Power), member of the Babylon13 collective

When an artist manages to make cinema with just what 's around him, he can do anything.

" I was taught this by a professor at Kyiv's Karpenko-Kary University. I studied documentary film there, and quickly developed a passion for it. When I was younger, I often followed my father, an art director, on shoots for commercials and music videos. I observed a lot on the sets. When I finished university, I joined Babylon 13, a collective of documentary filmmakers that was set up after the Maidan revolution in 2014. My mission was to manage the stock of images that the collective had shot on location, as close as possible to the event. Eventually, I came to know them by heart. I therefore decided to use them and make a film to bear witness to this historic uprising. This is how the project Time Machine Maidan was born, a documentary that I am currently co-directing with Volodymyr Tykhyy, and which has benefited from the European Solidarity Fund.

We're building the film from the dozens of hours of rushes we have, which we're trying to put into perspective with the current situation in Ukraine. It's a long and meticulous process. At the same time, I'm working on an animated film with puppets, Unholy Power, for which we've also benefited from the Fund. I drew my inspiration from Claude Barras' film My Life as a Courgette. This is another type of time-consuming task. We've managed to finish the first part of the film, which we can already show to funders. This film will be the first part of a series that will require another seven to ten years of work. We couldn't have done it without the support of the European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films.”

Darya Bassel, producer (Moon Man) Vadym Ilkov

Darya Bassel, producer (Moon Man)

The Fund enabled us to shoot a very ambitious scene, which required considerable resources.

"I've always been fascinated by cinema, even though I've never had any actual training in it. I spent several years working in production houses for commercials or TV shows.. In 2011, I went to the Docudays UA Festival. I discovered my passion for creative documentaries there. I was then able to take my first steps in independent cinema by joining the festival team. I got used to working with filmmaker friends who often needed help to produce their films. In 2019, I'm setting up the Moon Man production company with producer Vika Khomenko. Over the past five years, we've started to receive more and more projects, especially from foreign directors who want to shoot in Ukraine. We have benefited from the Solidarity Fund for four projects: the documentaries Songs of slow burning earth (Olha Zhurba), Red Zone (Iryna Tsilyk), Antonivka (Kateryna Gornostai), and the fiction film The Editorial Office (Roman Bondarchuk).

The Fund's input was crucial to our work, particularly on the latter film, which took four years to produce, from 2020 to 2024, and was disrupted by the war: our editor Victor Onysko, who joined the Ukrainian army, felt on the battlefield in December 2022, and our director, Roman Bondarchuk, is currently a refugee abroad with his family. It was invaluable during the film's difficult and costly post-production, which involved a lot of special effects (VFX/CGI) and complicated sound post-production. I'm not sure we could have finished The Editorial Office without the finalisation grant we received. Thanks to it, the film was presented at the Berlinale 2024, where it was received with enthusiasm. Several screenings will be held in Europe and Asia, before a Ukrainian theatrical release in November."

Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, director Valentyna Lukyantseva

Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, director (Pamfir, Silent Flood)

Getting a film crew together is difficult. Many artists and technicians are serving as part of the war effort.

"I first studied architecture, then philosophy. It was at the age of 25, when I registered for film school, that I knew I had found my path. I was lucky enough to join the Cinéfondation in 2018. This experience only strengthened my conviction that the work of writing was essential. This is why I have set up my own writing workshop, Terrarium, in 2015, to train young filmmakers in dramaturgy. Since the Russian invasion, it has been difficult to assemble a film crew. Many artists and technicians have been mobilized in the war effort. Big-budget films, particularly dramas, are struggling to get made, especially as funding from Ukrainian State Film Agency has been frozen. On the other hand, the process is simpler for medium- and low-budget films such as documentaries, which are technically lighter and cheaper to produce. More and more Ukrainian producers are interested in this type of film and are turning to European collaboration and co-production. The Solidarity Fund encourages and facilitates these contacts. It also provides decisive financial support for developing and finalising a project, two crucial stages in the creative process. I received support for the finalisation of my documentary, Silent Flood, about a religious community at odds with the modern world, co-produced by the German company Elemag Pictures. I also received development support for my project Retention, a science fiction film, co-produced by the French company Paradise City Films, which I met when my film Pamfir (2022) was released in France. The countries that contribute to the Fund and the European companies that co-produce Ukrainian films will see their investment pay off. Ukrainian filmmakers are passionate about their work. They are determined to continue, whatever it takes, their work to create original works.”

THE EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY FUND FOR UKRAINIAN FILMS

The EFSUF was officially launched by the German, French and Luxembourg Culture Ministers on 20 February 2023, during the 73rd Berlinale. Thanks to contributions from 18 national film centres and ministries of culture in 16 European countries, a total budget of €1.4 million was raised for the first year. The scheme has been renewed for 2024. There are now 20 contributors from 19 European countries, with a total budget of €1.7 million. To date, more than 37 grants have been awarded

  Discover the ESFUF website