Ukraine is ready for full membership in Creative Europe program

On September 20, at KYIV MEDIA WEEK 2017 Creative Europe Ukrainian forum took place; it was organized jointly with Ukrainian Film Association thanks to the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency, with the participation of Ukrainian National Council on TV and Radio and Creative Europe Desk Ukraine.

The forum was dedicated to Ukraine’s integration into European media market, development of partnership between Ukraine and EU countries in creative industries and organized to present the participants of Ukrainian media market with a range of opportunities provided by Creative Europe program and also to start a dialogue between authorities and creative community to develop an algorithm of actions needed for Ukraine’s full participation in the program.

The event started from a special report by coordinator of culture sector in Creative Europe, Tetyana Shulga, who told about the general structure of the program and what Ukraine should do for the program to become accessible on its territory. As we know, Creative Europe encompasses two subprograms, MEDIA and CULTURE, with their total budget amounting to almost 1.4 bn EUR. Presently Ukraine is a partial member of the program, and this means that it has four directions of Culture subprogram available, while the financing of initiatives associated with television and cinematography is done under the umbrella of MEDIA program.

Then the floor was taken by Motovila representative, engaged in promotion and cooperation for cultural and creative sector and coordinating Creative Europe Desk Slovenia, MEDIA program coordinator in Slovenia Sabina Briški Karlić. She presented the results of subprogram; in the period between 2007 and 2015 Slovenia received 4.4 mn EUR. Some specific projects which received financing were also named. In particular, it is a documentary Houston, We Have a Problem!, feature films History of Love and Nightlife; support is also given to Vyshegrad animation forum, Animatheque at Lublin international animation festival, and Kinodvor city cinemy.

Besides, a case of animation co-production was presented. It is Richard the Stork co-produced by Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Norway and the US. The film was sold to over 150 territories, and it received a distribution grant from Creative Europe.

Uljana Kim, head of Studio Uljana Kim (Lithuania) told about one of her latest projects, a co-production with Ukraine to work on Sergey’s Loznytsya film A Gentle Creature. The film obtained a production grant for the sum of 50 thousand EUR.

During Creative Europe forum, a roundtable discussion of Ukrainian regulators and Ukrainian market took place, dedicated to certain actions to be performed by Ukraine to enjoy access to MEDIA program. The participants were Igor Koval, director of Ukrainian Industrial Television Committee; Yuriy Kraynyak, representative of the National Council on TV and Radio; Igor Roskladay, representative of Media Law Institute; Volodymyr Yatsenko, producer and director of LIMELITE studio; Sergiy Sozanovsky, head of FILM.UA Group; Vladyslav Serdyukov, representative of the National Council on TV and Radio; Hryhoriy Shverk, deputy head of the National Council on TV and Radio; Ulyana Feschuk, deputy head of the National Council on TV and Radio; and Pylyp Illenko, head of Ukrainian State Film Agency.

Pylyp Illenko noted that the state of the industry allows to cooperate with European counterparts in a productive way. Though Ukraine doesn’t have access to bilateral co-productions for now, it actively participates in film projects as a minority partner. The opening of MEDIA subprogram may positively change the situation, but enough political will is required for that.  

In his turn, Hryhoriy has noted that several law drafts were already prepared, and the counterparts from the Council of Europe are ready to approve it, but now the problem is in drafting an agreement which would suit all the participants of the Ukrainian market. For successful adoption of the law, adding 1.5 mn EUR to the budget is also necessary. Shverk was insisting that the law be adopted as soon as possible, and most forum participants agreed with that.