How to support young filmmakers: debut in cinema in Ukraine

Contemporary Ukrainian cinema has already proved its strength: our films win competitions at Berlinale, Venice, Locarno, receive national awards, and are released on streaming platforms. But behind every such success there are years of invisible labor and often loneliness at the start.

Ukraine still lacks a coherent system that would support directors, screenwriters and producers in the period between their studies and their first professional realization. This moment is the most vulnerable in any creative profession. And as long as it remains "out of sight" of the state, industry and investors, we lose a generation of potential authors every year.

There is a gap between film education and the "real" profession that needs to be closed systematically. Formally, there are many educational institutions. In reality, very few of them ever make it to the actual film. Only about 20-25% of students with a degree in directing or screenwriting end up with a completed debut project. Of these, only a few get professional continuation.