You may remember, last year, that the President of the Ukraine Volodymyr Zelinski addressed the audience live during the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, to request support from the world of art and culture. That surrealist moment of media solidarity was followed up by the creation of a solidarity fund for Ukrainian films (the European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films, ESFU), endowed with a budget of one million euros put forward by the film centres of 13 European countries. This sum, managed by the French CNC, is geared towards supporting co-produced films of Ukrainian initiative.

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Consisting of eight members, the commission presided over by Marianne Slot (a producer at Slot Machine who has worked with Lars Von Trier as well as Ukraine’s  Sergei Loznitsa) chose eleven projects, six coming courtesy of women directors and five by men. They were announced on 21 May on the CNC’s beach in Cannes, in the presence of several Ukrainian producers, their European co-producers and, via video-link, a variety of Ukrainian filmmakers and documentary-makers. Awarded in advance, these development grants are capped at €25,000 for documentaries and €50,000 for fiction or animated films. Support for the finalisation of films is also available, reaching as high as €75,000.

In development terms, six projects are receiving support. The first is Ashes Settling in Layers on the Surface by Zoya Laktionova, a documentary co-produced by Cinéphage in France. Another documentary comes in the form of It Is Not a Full Picture by Maryna Stepanska (Falling [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Marina Stepanska
scheda film]), co-produced by Portugal’s Bando à parte. Special Treat by Antonio Lukich (My Thoughts Are Silent [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], Luxembourg, Luxembourg [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Antonio Lukich
scheda film]) is a fiction film developed with Ireland’s Feline, while Unholy Power by Roman Liubyi (Iron Butterflies [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Roman Liubyi
scheda film]) is an animated project for children, co-produced by Germany’s Benedetta Films.

Lithuanian producers have been quick to offer help to Ukrainian filmmakers: The Shadows by Paulina Kelm is supported by Anaben Films, To the Victory by Valentyn Vasyanovych (Atlantis [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Valentyn Vasyanovych
scheda film], Reflection [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Valentyn Vasyanovych
scheda film]) by M-Films and Glyadyelov by Oxana Kravtsova by Broom Films. The latter will be supported in post-production, because a number of films halted by the war require financial support in order to be completed.

Other projects supported in the finalisation stage are A Picture to Remember [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Olga Chernykh, a documentary co-produced by LuFilms (France), The Editorial Office [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Roman Bondarchuk
scheda film] by Roman Bondarchuk (Volcano [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Roman Bondarchuk
scheda film]), co-produced by Elemag Pictures in Germany, Nice Ladies [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Mariia Ponomarova, co-produced by Labyrint Film in the Netherlands, and, last but not least, A Poem for Little People by Ivan Sautkin, also co-produced in Lithuania, by Nuline Kopija.

With upwards of €500,000 still available in their budget, the commission is scheduled to meet again before the end of 2023. Furthermore, two new countries have entered into the European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films: Norway and the UK. Key figures in attendance also appealed to European good will to lend support to Ukrainian producers, too, by way of advice, introductions and potentially access to festivals where these works can be screened as soon as they’re finished.