Ukrainian
filmmakers
at war

In this section, you can find out more about how Ukrainian directors, actors, editors, and film producers protect their country in its most difficult time.

Volodymyr Yatsenko

Volodymyr Yatsenko is a Ukrainian film producer, and founding member of the Film Industry Association of Ukraine. He is also the co-founder of Ukrainian film production company ForeFilms (previously known as Limelite), and became the first Representative of Ukraine at EURIMAGES in 2020. 

Throughout his career, Volodymyr has produced over 1000 commercial advertisements and 8 feature films, many of which premiered at international film festivals in Cannes, Venice, Warsaw, Tallinn and Toronto. In 2018, Volodymyr produced Wild Field, his first full-length film; based on the famous Serhiy Zhadan novel Voroshilovgrad, it describes life in Luhansk region of Ukraine during the “wild” 1990s, and represented Ukraine at the 22nd Tallinn International Film Festival. His feature drama Homeward (2019) premiered at Cannes, whereas his drama Atlantis (2019) received the Best Film award at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival in the Horizons section.  He was also involved with Reflection (2021, Valentyn Vasyanovych), Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2022, Antonio Lukic), and Valeria is Getting Married (2022,  Michal Vinik).  Rock. Paper. Grenade, directed by Iryna Tsilyk and adapted from  Artem Chekh’s novel, premiered at the 2022 Warsaw International Film Festival. 

In 2014, Volodymyr stood up for Ukraine’s European identity during the Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv. He was awarded a certificate of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for his contribution to the creation of the volunteer movement. Once Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine began, he voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Together with his fellow filmmakers, he organized #FilmGroup, which documents the life of Ukrainian soldiers on the front line. In March 2022, their video about Irpin was broadcasted by CNN, reaching over 200 million views. Later, they filmed a liberated village in Kharkiv region. Volodymyr is a Cavalier of the Order for Courage, 3rd degree. 

Photos:
Volodymyr Yatsenko Facebook-page
Volodymyr Yatsenko's Filmography: IMDB | European Producers Club
War through Volodymyr’s lenses: Irpin, Kyiv region | Kharkiv region