The project will result in 12 documentaries made by Ukrainian filmmakers after the full-scale invasion and co-produced by ARTE. These films explore the Ukrainian reality from the inside, telling about the consequences of the Russian war against Ukraine.

On 16 March, the Ukrainian Institute will hold a presentation of the Generation Ukraine project with a trailer screening of 12 documentaries at Zhovten Cinema. Volodymyr Sheiko, Director General of the Ukrainian Institute, Fabrice Puchault, Head of Society and Culture at ARTE, Olivier Jacquot, Director of Institut Français of Ukraine,and films’ authors from the Generation Ukraine collection will attend the event.

Nataliia Movshovych, Head of the Film Department at the Ukrainian Institute, will moderate the event.

It is the first time Ukrainian documentaries have received such powerful attention, support and funding. The total budget of the project is over a million and half euros. The films will be premiered gradually over the course of 2024-2025. Later, after the festival premieres, the films from Generation Ukraine will be shown on ARTE and added to the platform’s content library. 

Two films that are part of Generation Ukraine have already had their world premieres at the Berlin International Film Festival 2024.

These are the films A Bit of a Stranger, directed by Svitlana Lishchynska, and Intercepted, directed by Oksana Karpovych. The documentary Intercepted received a special mention for the Ecumenical Award, which is awarded for the film’s religious, social and humanistic themes. It also received a special mention for the Amnesty Award. 

Throughout 2022, ARTE representatives attended presentations of Ukrainian documentary film projects at international festivals and selected participants. The Ukrainian Institute contributed expertly, offering a long list of projects at different stages of production. As a result, the teams of 12 documentaries were invited to participate in the Generation Ukraine project.

Read more about the new documentaries here.

Generation Ukraine is a project of the French-German media platform ARTE in cooperation with ARTE France, ARTE G.E.I.E., ARTE Germany, Ministère de l’Europe et des affaires étrangères, Goethe Institut, Council of Europe, BR, MDR, RBB, SWR, 2DF, Documentary Association of Europe, Doc Society and the Ukrainian Institute.

12 films of Generation Ukraine

• Displaced, director Olha Zhurba, producer Darya Bassel (Moon Man / UKR), Anne Köhncke (Final cut for real / DK), Kerstin Übelacker (We have a plan /SE), ARTE France, FISK 
• The Basement, director Roman Blazhan, producer Roman Blazhan (Minimal Movies / UKR), Christilla Huillard-Kahn (Elda / FR), ARTE France  
• Intercepted, director Oksana Karpovych, producer Giacomo Nudi (Films Cosmos / CA), Rocío Barba Fuentes, Pauline Tran Van Lieu (Hutong Prod. / FR), Darya Bassel and Olha Beskhmelnytsina (Moon Man / UKR), ARTE France  
• Cuba & Alaska, director Yegor Troyanovsky, producer Olha Beskhmelnytsina (2Brave / UKR), Christian Popp (Tag Films / FR), co-producer Hanne Phlypo (CLIN D’OEIL FILMS / BE), ARTE France  
• Queens of Joy, director Olga Gibelinda, producer Ivanna Khitsinska (Malanka Studios / UKR), Louis Beaudemont (Les Steppes Productions / FR), ARTE GEIE  
• The Days I would Like to Forget, directors Alina Gorlova, Yelizaveta Smith, Maksym Nakonechnyi, Simon Mozgovyi, producer Eugene Rachkovsky (TABOR / UKR), Nabil Bellahsene (Las Valseurs/ FR), Ralph Wieser (Mischief Films / GER), SWR / ARTE  
• Another Man’s Diary, director Oleksandr Tkachenko, producer Dmytro Illia Gladshtein (Phalanstery films / UKR), BR / ARTE  
• Blessed, director Andrii Lysetskyi, producer Gennady Kofman, Olha Beskhmelnytsina (MaGiKa Film / UKR), Uldis Cekulis (VFS FILMS / LV), Erik Winker (Corso-Film / GER), MDR / ARTE  
• Nukemailing, director Pavlo Cherepin, screenwriter Anton Bazelinsky, producer Egor Olesov, Kateryna Mizina (Heroes Docs / UKR), (DOCDAYS Productions / GER), RBB /ARTE/DW 
• A Bit of a Stranger, director Svitlana Lishchynska, producer Anna Kapustina (Albatros Communicos/ UKR), Fredrik Lange (Vilda Bomben / SE), Kristina Börjeson (Film I Vast / SE), ARTE / ZDF 
• Women Occupied, directors Tetiana Hanhza, Zoia Volk, producers Oksana Ivantsiv, Zoia Volk (ZOVA Films / GER), Regina Maryanovska-Davidzon (Real Pictures, UKR), SWR/ARTE
• Silent Flood, director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, producer Karina Kostyna, Eugene Rachkovsky (TABOR/ UKR), Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer (Elemag Pictures / GER), Reijer Zwaan (The Other Room / NL), MDR / ARTE