🇺🇦 BELIEVE IN UKRAINE FILM PROGRAM 🇺🇦
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This makes it more real than just a little 30-second vignette on a television news report . They [the films] are much more humanizing on an individual level, not just a quick shot of the latest bombing. This is people's lives.
Raising awareness and funds for Ukraine with Ukrainian centered storytelling
Authentic Ukrainian storytelling is a powerful, intimate, and humanizing response to the zoomed-out, abstracted coverage of mainstream news, and it is as crucial at this stage of the war as it was when we created our program in 2024.
We did it in 2024 - with screenings across the United States and the world and we're ready to do it again. Your support will allow us to focus on the rapid creation of a new program of short films and all the materials needed for any community or organization to build fundraising events around it, including:
🎬 A 60–90 minute curated short film program featuring contemporary Ukrainian filmmakers, delivered digitally or by mail
🎬 Social media–ready reels and video promos
💛 Customizable social media templates, press releases, posters, and programs with editable dates, locations, and sponsor logos
ESTIMATED TIMELINE - 8-10 weeks, Total labor hours: 150-180 (full details in project budget below)
Your donation supports:
the full creation of a new curated program, including the call for films, reviewing and selecting submissions, arranging 10-12 films, into a 60–90 minute program in multiple formats, communicating with filmmakers, providing stipends, translation services, graphic design, promotional videos, and outreach to secure an institutional partner with distribution reach beyond our own. The result will be a ready-to-use package that makes it easy to host a fundraising event anywhere in the world.
This modest investment directly compensates and supports Ukrainian artist, Ukrainian cultural transmission, with the potential to generate far more in return for Ukrainian humanitarian support, whether used on its own or paired with other fundraising events.
Spark Filmmakers Collaborative has earned Platinum Transparency through Candid/GuideStar — the highest level of nonprofit accountability. We publicly share detailed information about our mission, programs and finances so donors and community members can see exactly how their support makes a difference.
Zeffy allows nonprofits to accept donations in full by passing the industry’s lowest processing fee to donors. It lets us receive digital contributions with no cost to our organization, which means your support goes exactly where it is needed. Zeffy also provides immediate tax receipts to donors.
💸 Estimated Project Budget & Compensation Summary
This is a lean, ethical, and impact-focused budget that:
directly compensates Ukrainian filmmakers for their work
pays modest but fair stipends to the curatorial and production team
produces an international-quality screening program
creates a complete global toolkit (promo materials, templates, reels, press releases)
ensures accessibility through multilingual subtitles
provides digital and physical distribution options
This project produces a globally distributable, fundraising-ready Ukrainian film program that communities can use anywhere in the world.
Total Budget Estimate: 8,550 - $10, 150:
Filmmaker Stipends (10-12) — $500/each: $5,000 – $6,000
Curator 35–40 $25–30/hr: $1,000 – $1,200
Producer / Admin: 40–50 $20–25/hr $1,000 – $1,250
Toolkit Designer: 20–25 $25/hr $500 – $650
Trailer / Teaser/Reels Editor: 10–12 $30/hr $300 – $400
Subtitling & Captioning: 10–15 flat rate $300
Digital Mastering & Delivery: ~8 $25/hr $200
Physical Delivery (USBs, etc.): — flat cost $250 – $400
A collaboration between Ukrainan Filmmakers in support of Ukrainian voices.
In late 2023, Ukrainian filmmakers Lukia Costello (USA) and Anastasiia Kirii (displaced in Barcelona) created a call for short films and shaped a ten-film, 52-minute program meant to bring the Ukrainian experience to non-Ukrainian audiences in a human and immediate way. View our 2024 pitch deck below or here in English or Ukrainian.
With support from a few community partners, our sweat and hustle brought our program to Lisbon, Tarifa, Barcelona, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Grand Rapids, Nashville, Chicago, and Seattle, and continues by request today.
Donations and a partnership with PBS for 20 Days in Mariupol made it possible to offer modest stipends to the filmmakers and to the small team behind the program, creating the first thread of sustainability in a project built from care and persistence.
2024 FILMS & PARTICIPATING FILMMAKERS
2024 FILMS & PARTICIPATING FILMMAKERS
Under the Endless Sky - Alexandra Dzhiganskaya is an award-winning Ukrainian illustrator and animator in Vienna, Austria. She studied visual communication in Kyiv, Vienna, and London. Her works address modern, urban, and people-inspired topics, often humorously, using bright colors and mixed media. @alexandradzh
20-11-7.MP4 - Alina Panasenko is a director and visual artist from Severodonetsk, based in Kyiv, a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy and holds a Bachelor's degree in Screenwriting from KNUTCT and has participated in the Film Bridge Programme and is a participant in the LIM program 2024. Her directorial works include "20-11-7.MP4" and "TEATRALNA STATION." @pnsnk
Irpin and Bucha. A minute of silence - Julia Shashkova, Babylon '13 Julia has been creating films and documentary projects on currant Ukrainian society since 2010. As a part of Babylon '13 team she directed films “Stronger than Arms” and “Volunteers of war”, both of which received international film festival awards.
Mother - Mariia Felenko studied puppetry at the Dnipro Theater College. Later, she continued her education in film directing at the Kyiv National University of Theatre, Film, and Television. In 2022, forced to leave Ukraine due to the war, Mariia continued her studies through an Erasmus internship at FAMU in Prague. @maria_felenko
How I celebrated the day of the russian language in Kherson - Kateryna Krokha is a video artist from Ukraine, has a sociology and Anglo-American literature background. With five years of experience as a video editor, she now works as a video operator and director. She merges video and text to delve into her surroundings and personal journey, crafting compelling narratives. @katerynakrokha
Irpin and Bucha. A minute of silence - Julia Shashkova, Babylon '13 has been creating films and documentary projects on currant Ukrainian society since 2010. As a part of Babylon '13 team she directed films “Stronger than Arms” and “Volunteers of war”, both of which received international film festival awards.
My beloved, grey-haired - Anastasiia Kirii Born and raised in Kyiv, Anastasiia always loved books and used to play them out with dialogues and accents. She studied film and TV direction in Kyiv and made her first short films there. When the war started in Ukraine, Anastasiia moved to Barcelona by nine trains with her dog Penka. @anakirii
Skateboarding on the frontline - Maksym Lukashov, Babylon '13 Born in 1985 in Cherkasy. Graduated from the I.K. Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University and worked on popular TV projects as a director and editor for 10 years. After the full-scale invasion by Russia, as a member of Babylon ‘13, began creating documentary films on the impact of the military aggression of the occupiers on peaceful life. Since 2023 Maksym has been mobilized for military service.
Departure - Viktoriia Turetska was born in 2002, in the city of Dnipro. Despite drawing from a young age, she only began pursuing animation at the start of the full-scale war. In March 2022, Viktoriia was granted temporary asylum in Germany. A year later, she enrolled in the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, specializing in animation. @vilka.entertainment
Mokish - Anna Dudko is a Ukrainian animation director and animator. She was born in Ukraine in 1996. Studied Design and Animation in Kyiv. Previously, she created two films: "Here by Herself" and "Deep Water". @andy.rooth
"!" (exclamation mark) - Orest Smilianets is an independent Ukrainian filmmaker, art director, and the founder of #orestfilm. His cinematic works often provide a global perspective on humanity, space, technology, and contemporary events. @orestfilm
DIRECTORIAL & CURATORIAL TEAM
DIRECTORIAL & CURATORIAL TEAM
LUKIA COSTELLO (Program Director) is a Ukrainian-American artist, filmmaker, editor, visual effects artist and the founder and executive director of Spark Filmmakers Collaborative. Learn more about her work at www.lukiacostello.com
ANASTASIIA KIRII (Program Curator) is a filmmaker, scriptwriter, and advertising copywriter from Ukraine. She studied film direction and later marketing strategy in Kyiv, Ukraine, and worked on numerous production, film, and advertising projects. Learm more about her work at: https://vimeo.com/kirii
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