proMOTION 2023 — programme of systematic support of international promotion of Ukrainian cinema
The programme is designed to increase the presence of Ukrainian cinema and its recognition on international film markets.
About the programme
The goal of the programme is to develop competencies and strengthen marketing skills of Ukrainian filmmakers as well as foster systematic international cooperation with professional promotion agencies.
proMOTION 2023
The 2023 edition of the programme is implemented in cooperation with Eurimages, the cultural support fund of the Council of Europe.
Three calls for projects are to be proposed over the course of 2023, to allow producers to apply with film projects to be promoted at the main festivals throughout the year.
The winners of the proMOTION 2023 third Open Call
The plot revolves around Yura, a young researcher at a local museum, who witnesses a forest fire. The protagonist brings photos of the perpetrators to the local newspaper’s editorial office with the intention of exposing them.
This documentary film consists of archival footage shot by the director’s father, a figure skater from the famous “Ballet on Ice” ensemble. The film explores the history of Ukraine’s maturation between the illusion of the “Western paradise” and the hardships of the Soviet era.
This documentary essay takes the viewer on a journey through the trials and tribulations of a Ukrainian family originally from Donetsk. Forced to leave their home during the war in 2014 and again in 2022 when the enemy knocked on their door in Kyiv, the director immerses herself in a kaleidoscope of memories and chronicles her own and collective experiences.
The third of call for proMOTION 2023
Applications for the third competition were accepted from October 9th to October 30th, 2023, 11:59 pm (Kyiv time) on the Ukrainian Institute’s website. The winners will be announced at the end of November. Promotional campaigns of the projects must be launched at least in the period from January to April 2024 inclusive. Preference will be given to projects that have already confirmed festival premieres or foreign theatrical releases during this period. Documents confirming this are accepted until the end of the expert evaluation process, namely on November 20. Projects that were not selected in previous competitive selections can be resubmitted for the competition.
The winners of the proMOTION 2023 second Open Call
The experts have chosen two projects whose international promotional campaigns will be supported in the amount of up to 8,000 euros.
About the submition process.
The story of teenagers growing up takes place in one of the Kyiv schools in the late 1990s. 15-year-old Tonya, in search of salvation from a dangerous guy, becomes a member of the new school gang, where she meets her first love and first adult problems.
A tragicomedy about an amateur theater in Volyn. Seeking to overcome his personal crisis, а renowned big city actor Petro returns from the capital city to his native village to create a theatre with his fellow villagers, thus proving to himself what he is still capable of.
The winners of the proMOTION 2023 first Open Call
The winners of the first of three proMOTION 2023 Open Calls are two film projects that will receive support for promotion abroad in the amount of 8,000 euros.
The documentary tells the story of the growing up of teenagers from the East of Ukraine against the backdrop of the war. One day, a well-known adventurer and traveler in Ukraine, Valentyn Shcherbachov, invites them to participate in a unique therapy expedition to the Himalayas and gives them the opportunity to break free for the first time and open new horizons in their lives.
Ukraine, 1996. 5 months before the moratorium on the death penalty. Two old friends—a police detective and a forensic psychiatrist—are investigating the murder of a colleague whose widow both of them loved when they were young. Immersed in memories of the past, they unconsciously create a future in which their children will have to live, reaping the fruits of their parents’ lost hopes.
The first of three calls for proMOTION 2023
Producers can apply with full-length fiction, animation and documentary projects at the final stages of production and ready festival or theatrical distribution abroad for for a maximum of €8,000 (eight thousand euros) to develop the international promotional campaign of their project.
In total, up to seven film projects will be selected during the year and will receive up to 8,000 euros to promote the film abroad.
Applications were accepted from 8 to 27 March, 2023, 23:59 (Kyiv time). The winners will be announced no later than April 24. Promotiional campaign should be implemented in the time frame from May till August 2023. Preference will be given to projects that have already confirmed festival premieres or foreign theatrical releases during this period.
The selection of film projects is carried out by a competition committee consisting of two independent experts, a representative of the Eurimages, and two representatives of the Ukrainian Institute film department:
- Stanislav Bytiutskyi, film critic, director, curator of the Kyiv Critics’ Week festival and the head of science programming at the Dovzhenko Centre
- Susanne Davis, Head of Film Sales Support (FSS), European Film Promotion
- Sergio García de Leániz, Project Manager at Eurimages, curator of the Promotion Programme
- Natalie Movshovych, Head of the Film Department at the Ukrainian Institute
- Iryna Kyporenko, Programme Manager of the Film Department at the Ukrainian Institute