Co-production with Ukraine: recent international success

The awards at the Cannes Film Festival, participation in the Berlinale Competition, the attention of a large audience from different countries — it's all about films and series created in co-production with our country during the last years. 

Last year, two films created in co-production with Ukraine, became a real thrill at the world's most prestigious film festival in Cannes. First of all, it is DONBASS by Sergei Loznitsa. The film in co-production between Germany, Ukraine, France, Netherlands, and Romania has won the Un Certain Regard award for Best Director and became the opening film of the 71st Cannes International Festival. Afterward, Ukraine selected this film for the best foreign-language film Oscar race. 

The second film is WOMAN AT WAR (KONA FER Í STRÍÐ), a thriller by Benedikt Erlingsson created in co-production between Ukraine, France, Iceland. The film participated in Critics' Week, winning the Society of Authors and Dramatic Composers SACD Award the Rail d'Or prize. This film also entered Oscar race for Iceland. 

But the festival achievements of our co-production projects do not stop there. This February, MR. JONES by Agnieszka Holland participated in the main competition of Berlinale. It is a co-production between Poland, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. The shootings took place in all three countries, starring James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, and Peter Sarsgaard. Very soon, the film revising the important and tragic topic of revealing the truth about the Holodomor will become available for a wide audience and will be premiered in Ukraine on November 28. 

But don't think that successful co-production projects are limited to the author's cinema and serious topics. A fresh example is 100%-viewers' cinema COLD BLOOD by Frédéric Petitjean, an intense psychological thriller starring Jean Reno. The film was co-produced by France and Ukraine, the shootings took place in the Carpathians and other Ukrainian locations, as well as in the USA and Canada. At the end of this spring, the film was successfully distributed in France. 

However, the most-watched format of audiovisual works is TV series. And here co-production projects are also at a high level. For example, the detective project MARCUS co-produced by TRC "Ukraine" and the Latvian media company Helio Media. The series is dealing with the painful and harsh social issue of kidnapping and their adoption in other countries. It was premiered on the big screen within the program section at Odesa International Film Festival, and this fall the project will be screened on "Ukraine" TV channel. 

One more striking example is the 10-episodes detective thriller PRINCIPLE OF PLEASURE, a co-production project between Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Poland, which will premier on "1 + 1" channel very soon. The plot unfolds in four cities, Warsaw, Prague, Odessa and Leipzig, where mysterious murders are taking place. Three police officers conduct the investigation, and soon they independently conclude that all these crimes are connected. Therefore, to succeed in the investigation, they must join forces. 

Joining efforts, resources, talents for the sake of common success is the main principle of co-production. Just to make it easier for film and TV professionals to find each other for common projects, KMW CoProduction Meetings was created. It is happening this year thanks to the support of Ukrainian Cultural Foundation within the framework of the Strengthening Capacity of Ukrainian Audiovisual Sector program.

KMW CoProduction Meetings 2019 will be held on September 18 and 19 at Hyatt Regency Kyiv (5, Alla Tarasova St.). 

To stay up to date with the event, follow KMW CoProduction Meetings 2019 event on Facebook and check the updates on our web-site and KYIV MEDIA WEEK Facebook page.