[Filmfestivalresearch] NECS Online event: Spotlight on film festivals in Ukraine today!

[Valck, M. de (Marijke)]

NECS Film Festival Research workgroup & Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF present

Spotlight on film festivals in Ukraine today!
Accounts, responses, calls to action

Online talk with festival organizers from Ukraine

Wednesday April 6, 2022 19:00 - 20:30 CET; talk in English

Register HERE <https://forms.gle/KnqSF83DCf9YhUJn8> to attend the Zoom event.

More than a month ago, Russian troops invaded Ukraine. How is the war affecting the film festivals in Ukraine? What impact do the continuing hostilities have on everyday practices for film festivals and for local film and media professionals? This panel discussion brings together Ukrainian festival organizers of all regions in Ukraine to share their accounts of unfolding events and give insights into the current situation at home or in exile. What are responses to the uncertainty of when and how their festivals might be able to resume their work? What can and should be done at other festivals to help?


Speakers

*  Viktoria Leschenko, Program Director of Docudays UA Film Festival<https://docudays.ua/eng/>

*  Yevhenia Kriegsheim, Head of Kharkiv MeetDocs Film Festival<https://meetdocsfestival.com/en/>

*  Anna Machuh, Executive Director of Odesa International Film Festival<https://oiff.com.ua/en>

*  Bohdan Zhuk, Programmer at the International Film Festival Molodist<https://molodist.com/en> / Sunny Bunny<https://molodist.com/en/program/sunny-bunny>
*  Olha Reiter, Artistic Director and Co-founder of Lviv International Short Film Festival Wiz-Art<https://wiz-art.ua/festival/en/>

Moderation: Skadi Loist, Film University Babelsberg & Marijke de Valck, Utrecht University

Organized with Anastasia Puhach

Hosted by the Film Festival Research workgroup at NECS<https://necs.org/> - European Network for Cinema and Media Studies & the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF<https://www.filmuniversitaet.de/en/>


ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Viktoria Leschenko
"I am a dreamer, maker and connector." Victoria worked at Molodist KIFF from 2007 to 2011. In 2010 she joined the team of Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, where she was promoted to program director in 2019. Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival is a regular event with the annual 20K attendance in Kyiv and 100K in the regions of Ukraine. In 2020 and 2021, both festival editions took place online at docuspace.org. Member of the IHRFN and DAE.

Yevgeniya  Kriegsheim
Yevgeniya moved from Kharkiv to Berlin in 2008, where she co-founded the production company Boekamp & Kriegsheim GmbH. Since then, she has co-founded two other companies and set up a film festival in her home town Kharkiv: the Kharkiv MeetDocs Film Festival. In the 4 years of its existence, this festival has become the only and the largest venue in the east of the country, uniting Ukrainian and international filmmakers. Yevgeniya's other companies are Media Frontline e.V, which creates projects and seminars for film-makers and journalists around the globe, and The Thursday Company GmbH, based in Berlin, which produces high-quality documentaries for international streamers and audiences.

Anna Machukh
Anna Machukh is co-founder and Executive director of the Ukrainian Film Academy. Since 2017 Ukrainian Film Academy hosts its main Ukrainian Film Award Golden Dzyga, also providing educational workshops and taking parts in processes in the Ukrainian Film Industry. Anna is also co-founder and the Head of project Dzyga MDB (the innovative platform that collect all information about Ukrainian films and filmmakers). Anna has worked as Head of Marketing at the film distribution company Arthouse Traffic as Head of Marketing for Odesa International Film Festival and has been the Executive director of Odesa International Film Festival since 2020.

Bohdan Zhuk
Bohdan Zhuk is a programmer for the International Film Festival Molodist in Kyiv, Ukraine's biggest film event. With education in linguistics and professional background as translator, journalist and radio host, he joined the Molodist team in 2014 as a press attaché and programmer. He has been programming the competition and non-competition sections of Molodist and curates its LGBT+ programme Sunny Bunny, Ukraine's oldest regular LGBT+themed event (since 2001). Zhuk also manages international events of Molodist dedicated to Ukrainian films and sits on programming committees and jury of various film festivals.

Olha Raiter
Olha is Programme director and co-founder of Lviv International Short Film Festival, one of the most visible and influential film events in Ukraine. She graduated from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in Slavic Philology, Cultural Studies, and Lviv Business School. She worked as a film commissioner, tourist-guide, copywriter and a waitress once. Currently a curator and program manager of America House Lviv, she is also an inspirator of the Big Short online cinema, a place for short films in Ukraine. Olha is a member of Ukrainian Film Academy, SOFA alumni, and part of the world's Aspen Community Ukraine.

Anastasia Puhach
Born in Donetsk Anastasia escaped from war in 2014 and settled in Kyiv where she lived when Russia invaded Ukraine. She collaborated in various theatre projects with displaced people from Donbas and teenagers on the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk region near that time frontline. More recently she has been Program Director of the project Kinovernissage in Kyiv which promoted Ukrainian cinema. Anastasia also worked for two smaller regional film festivals in Ukraine.


Dr. Marijke de Valck | Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies | Department of Media and Culture Studies | Utrecht University | Kromme Nieuwegracht 20, 3512 EV Utrecht | The Netherlands | Room T1.12 | +31 30 2538162  | m.devalck at uu.nl<mailto:m.devalck at uu.nl> | www.uu.nl/medewerkers/MdeValck<http://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/MdeValck> | www.filmfestivalresearch.org<http://www.filmfestivalresearch.org/>