Day 4 of Film Industry Office within 16th OIFF: Professional Panels and Practical Cases for Ukrainian Filmmakers

The 16th Odesa International Film Festival is taking place in Kyiv, which brought together many industry professionals. On September 29, the program was especially eventful: in addition to numerous film screenings showcasing the latest Ukrainian and European films, events were held in parallel within the Film Industry Office section.

In the Large and Small Halls of the House of the Architect, were discussed key trends and challenges of the modern audiovisual sector : from the development of documentary and animation films to the prospects of feature film festival production, the use of artificial intelligence, and distribution and marketing strategies.

In the Great Hall, the day began with a panel on “Trends of Contemporary Documentary Film in Ukraine,” moderated by OIFF Director General Anna Machukh. Leading representatives of Ukrainian media and film production joined the discussion, including Olga Kashpor (1+1 media), Iryna Karpova (channel 2+2), Anastasia Shteinhaus (ICTV, ICTV2), Lukyan Galkin (Public Broadcasting), director Alisa Kovalenko, director of the Babylon 13 film association Volodymyr Tykhy, Yulia Bin (The International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine), and producer and director Anna Kapustina.

The first to talk about plans for cinema and future projects was Volodymyr Tykhy, producer and director of the Babylon 13 film association: “We have a lot of stories now, if we talk about Babylon, we are shooting several documentaries, one film is archival, we are editing it completely from archives now.”

Iryna Karpova, producer of the information and journalism direction of the 2+2 channel, revealed new details of the work: “This year, the 2+2 channel is working with five documentary projects that are produced with the support of the State Film and Television Agency.”

Olga Kashpor, deputy director of the new formats department at 1+1 media, spoke about the growth in documentary production: “With the beginning of the full-scale war, documentary film production began at TSN, and today we already have 24 films.”

Yulia Bin, representative of The International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine, joined the list of acquisitions and films, presenting one of the upcoming projects: “Currently, we have a collaboration with Andriy Kornienko and the talented Marina Tkachuk, an almanac called “Ode to Unity.”

Lukyan Galkin, producer of external production and co-production of the Public Broadcasting Company, added: “Personal stories, in any case, have universality.”

Anna Kapustina, producer and director, shared her vision of modern challenges: “Now it is very difficult to get to a festival, even to marketing, so that a film is selected and presented.”

Alisa Kovalenko, a film director, concluded the discussion with her thoughts on shifting the focus of coverage of events in Ukraine: “Strong stories work, but now you can no longer just talk about this reality, you have to find a special perspective on certain things.”

The participants then discussed the topic “Facts in the Post-Truth Era,” moderated by the host and head of ICTV’s “Facty” Olena Frolyak. The panel included producer and director Yegor Olesov (United Heroes), representative of the Media Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmytro Kuevda, journalist-military correspondent Oleg Kornienko (“Facty”), historian Anastasia Haidukevych-Kachuro (Museum of the Revolution of Dignity), Irish investigative journalist Caolan Robertson, and Oleksandr Makobriy (ICCC). The panelists emphasized the key challenges facing journalism and documentary filmmaking in times of war.

Yegor Olesov, producer, director and co-founder of the United Heroes project, emphasized: “We need to unite, because any great film cannot be made without fact analysis, research, work with editors and journalists.”

Oleksandr Makobrii, Deputy Director of the Department for Information Policy and Information Security, Head of the Information Security Division of the MCSC, emphasized the importance of synergy: “The consolidation of efforts by government authorities, civil society representatives, the media community, and the film industry constitutes 90% of success.”

Oleg Kornienko, journalist and military correspondent of Fakty, spoke about the specific nature of war journalism: “If we recall the Second World War or the First World War, they were merely chronicles. Today, however, we record life itself.” The challenges faced by documentary filmmakers were outlined by Dmytro Kuyevda, representative of the Media Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: “When contradictions arise, the camera never lies — nothing can be hidden from it.”

Irish investigative journalist Caolan Robertson also joined the discussion, sharing his experience: “I was working on a story and returned home to London, where I worked at a newspaper, and I saw how shocked people were by what was happening.”

From a historical perspective, the discussion was reinforced by Anastasia Haidukevych-Kachur, historian and research fellow at the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity: “Why does Russia manage to beat us in the international information field? Because they combine facts with their interpretation.”

The international segment featured an English-language discussion, Nordic Roadmap: Getting Ukrainian Docs on Europe’s Public Broadcasters, with the participation of producers from Ukraine and Sweden, including Lukyan Galkin (Suspilne), Malcolm Dixelius (Dixit International), and Olga Bregman (2Brave Productions).

This was followed by the panel Prospects of Feature Festival Cinema in Ukraine, moderated by ICTV presenter Oksana Gutzeit. The discussion brought together OIFF General Director Anna Machukh; producers Yegor Olesov, Anna Yatsenko, Natalia Libet, and Dmytro Sukhanov; director and screenwriter Kristina Tynkevych; as well as Head of the State Film Agency Andriy Osipov.

Anna Machukh, General Director of the Odesa International Film Festival, emphasized the imbalance between the number of premieres and festival representation: “We see that Ukrainian films are being released in cinemas almost every week. But how many of these films are truly festival-oriented? Here we are facing a crisis. For this Odesa International Film Festival, we received only four feature film submissions.”

Andriy Osipov, Head of the State Film Agency, elaborated on the issue of the divide between auteur and audience-oriented cinema: “In Ukraine, there is a certain opposition between audience-oriented and auteur cinema, but I believe this is a manipulation. It is more accurate to speak of producer-driven versus auteur cinema. In Europe, auteur films are positioned as festival films, while at the same time it is claimed that no one wants to watch them — this is unfair. I hope that in Ukraine we will see a great deal of high-quality content that is both audience-friendly and festival-worthy.”

Producer Natalia Libet shared her experience: “We are currently producing and releasing documentary films, including on the festival circuit.”

Producer Yehor Olesov stressed the importance of a careful approach to feature films: “With feature films, especially now, one must be very delicate.”

Producer Dmytro Sukhanov added on festival strategy: “Festival films should be focused on international festivals.”

From the artistic side, director and screenwriter Kristina Tynkevych remarked: “We see cinema as art. But it is a very expensive art form.”

Producer Anna Yatsenko concluded the discussion by drawing attention to genre formats: “Genre cinema is not just art mainstream. We have successfully found our niche.”

The day’s program in the Grand Hall concluded with the session Distribution and Marketing Begins with Scriptwriting, moderated by Olga Panteleimonova (UPHub), featuring representatives of Green Light Films, UPHub, and Starlight Media.

Veronika Yasinska, CEO of Green Light Films, highlighted the strategic importance of the script: “A script is not only about the artistic component of a work. It is the roadmap of the project. It defines the target audience and the unique selling proposition. This is precisely how we evaluate international projects.”

Oleksii Terentiev, producer at UPHub, discussed the evolution of the production approach in Ukraine: “Previously, producers created their films and series simply based on themes they liked and wanted to bring to life. Today, Ukraine is moving onto industrial tracks in content production, so we must reconsider how we make decisions about launching a given project.”

Olena Martynova, Marketing Director of Starlight Media and Head of Starlight Creative, explained the role of marketing at different stages of a project: “Marketing is present from the moment the idea of investing in a certain story arises. On the one hand, it is embedded in the initial development, and on the other — the marketing team expands when it comes to promotion and communication, that is, at later stages.”

The Small Hall was dedicated to technology and animation topics. A panel discussion titled Artificial Intelligence — a Threat or a Solution for Film and Series Production was moderated by Oksana Gutzeit. Speakers included representatives of leading Ukrainian media and production companies: Natalia Vovk (1+1 Ukraine), Valeria Tolochina (Megogo), Oleksii Komarovskyi (producer, director, screenwriter), Olena Martynova (Starlight Media), Oleg Malamuzh (director), and Oleksii Terentiev (UPHub).

Oleksii Terentiev, producer at UPHub, emphasized the practical aspect of applying new technologies: “When working with artificial intelligence, the most important factor for us is saving time. We monitor in which areas AI can be applied and then explore those opportunities. At present, we are focused on creating AI assistants that help us carry out our work. For example, we had a case where AI analyzed a script and produced a report indicating which platform or channel it would best fit according to the brief.”

Olena Martynova, Marketing Director of Starlight Media, highlighted the scale of the challenges faced by the company: “We have around 50 premieres every year, and we must be fully prepared for all of them. Therefore, everything we currently do with AI relates to processes that accelerate our work.”

At the same time, Natalia Vovk, Marketing Director of 1+1 Ukraine, reminded the audience that technology cannot fully replace creativity: “Artificial intelligence will definitely not replace people, except for some technical aspects — transcription, proofreading, draft voiceovers for trailers, and other preparatory work. When it comes to the final result, I believe that everything that comes from a person, from the heart, is valuable. As human beings, we also filter content through our own perception, and AI serves only as an auxiliary tool — a helper for the creative professional.”

Director Oleg Malamuzh stressed that artificial intelligence is more likely to reshape the market than “displace” professionals: “In our profession, the initial shock — ‘artists are no longer needed,’ ‘animators are no longer needed,’ because AI will do everything — is misplaced. I often reassure my colleagues, because it is becoming increasingly clear that cheap, mass-produced content quickly disappears. It is like YouTube, where an enormous amount of content is produced but never watched. There will be a lot of automated content, and, in contrast, there will be content created by real people. One example is Avatar: a team spent six years preparing the film with an enormous budget, and audiences went to see it.”

Valeria Tolochina, Marketing Director at Megogo, underlined that for the company AI serves not only as an optimization tool but also as a way to compensate for staff shortages: “In our market we lack sufficient personnel, and we cannot fill certain vacancies. Because of the war, many people are mobilized, and we are constantly searching for talent. That is why we use artificial intelligence as additional support — to ‘polish’ a product or assist with historical reconstructions, for example. Since the war is ongoing, such costs are very high.”

Special attention was also given to the legal aspects of working with new technologies. Oleksii Komarovskyi explained how issues of authorship are regulated in practice: “We separated AI as a ‘creative unit,’ which we call an AI-maker. We document all prompts, programs, and detailed processes, and register it as part of the overall intellectual product — the film. We also had cases where we did not use AI as a creative unit but rather as an engineer or executor.”

The final highlight in the Small Hall was the panel The State and Prospects of Animation Development in Ukraine, moderated by Oleg Malamuzh (Mavka. The Forest Song). Participants included Anastasiia Verlinskа (LinoleumFestival), Serhii Yehorov (Heroic), Olena Holubieva (Red Dog Studio, UAnimA), Ivanna Naida (PLUSPLUS), and Yuliia Dychuk (Suspilne Broadcasting).

Serhii Yehorov, project lead at the post-production company Heroic, emphasized the significant impact of the war on the industry: “At the beginning of the war, we were at the peak of development. Even after the invasion started, we still had a large pool of projects requiring skilled Ukrainian professionals. Moreover, all our partners stayed with us. This allowed us to sustain ourselves until mid-2023, but now we are facing a crisis situation.”

Ivanna Naida, General Producer of PLUSPLUS TV channel, stressed that today authors require support and proper production management: “Authors are receiving support now, but it is essential to know how to navigate challenges and to have a producer. At the same time, if you produce your project with specialists from foreign funds, it will no longer be a Ukrainian product. That is why financing from the Ukrainian side is necessary. Since official co-production mechanisms are hardly functioning, this remains a challenge.”

She also underlined the strong demand for domestic content: “Ukrainian animation is very much needed today. In my experience, children and parents ‘vote with the remote.’ For example, there is the TET TV channel, which is not a children’s channel, yet it urgently needs quality animation. With our efforts, we are producing mere fragments, but they fully compete with blockbusters and Disney products. The demand for animation is undeniable.”

Yuliia Dychuk, Head of Children’s Content at Suspilne Broadcasting, recalled the challenges her team faced at the beginning of the full-scale invasion: “As the children’s content team at Suspilne, we are part of a large holding. At the onset of Russia’s invasion, this became a disadvantage for us, as all resources were redirected to news and investigations. It was very difficult — we had only just been formed and had begun our work.”

The Odesa International Film Festival is supported by:

Ukrainian State Film Agency

The European Union and Creative Europe Desk Ukraine

Adam Mickiewicz Institute “Instytut Adama Mickiewicza”

Polish Institute in Kyiv

German Films

In partnership with the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine

Official Sponsor – ARARAT

Official Automotive Partner – BMW Ukraine

General Partner of Film Industry Office – UPHub

Official jewelry partner - Carrera Y Carrera General

Technological Partner -Hisense