CoProduction Meetings: Co-production Section of KYIV MEDIA WEEK Summary

On September 18 and 19, the co-production event KMW CoProduction Meetings aimed at co-production development in Ukraine took place with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

Five foreign producers, representatives of the companies from different countries CIS and beyond, interested in co-production with Ukraine were invited to the event: David Leader from the Norwegian-American production company Viafilm, Gal Zaid from Endemol Shine  (Israel), Martichka Bozhilova from the most famous Bulgarian production world's Agitprop, Rastislav Šesták, co-founder of Slovak company DNA Production, and Gavin Reardon from Canadian production company Incendo.

On the Ukrainian side, nearly 150 audiovisual industry professionals, including producers, directors, and screenwriters joined the event. One-third of Ukrainian participants, which had registered for the event, had an opportunity to present their projects to foreign producers on the second day during face-to-face meetings. All five guests were impressed by the variety of topics, originality of ideas, and projects presented by their Ukrainian colleagues. Here's how they comment on participating in the event:

"KMW was a great and useful experience. I received the opportunity to learn a lot about the Ukrainian market, as well as culture. I am impressed by the number of things Ukraine and Israel have in common and thrilled by the great potential for future partnerships with Ukraine," says Gal Zaid.

"KMW CoProduction Meetings is a wonderful, concise, and well-planned event that got to the heart of co-production with Ukraine. I found the content strong and am excited by the possibilities of cooperation," notes Gavin Reardon. 

Ukrainian participants were able to leave their feedback and unanimously agreed that the event helped them to learn about new opportunities for co-production. Even those participants, whose projects were not selected for individual meetings benefited from the event by gaining the opportunity to discuss the co-production potential of their projects with experienced foreign producers during the networking session on the first day of the event.

The organizers are inspired by the feedback and relevance of the event, that contributed aimed at developing co-production with other countries among professionals in the audiovisual industry. Therefore, the organizers express gratitude to all participants of KMW CoProduction Meetings and the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation for supporting the co-production section of the largest media forum of Central and Eastern Europe.

We are waiting for the results of co-production meetings and will be glad to hear about the success of co-production projects of KMW CoProduction Meetings participants at info@mrm.ua.