Who our committee is and how it decides
The NGO Filmmakers for Refugees
With the launch of the Filmmakers For Ukraine platform in early march, requests for help from Ukrainian filmmakers began pouring into the organization’s email. In some cases, FFU was able to provide assistance and advice or at least direct the person to the right institution.
Often, however, we have experienced situations when our possibilities were running out – this mainly concerned inquiry for financial support.
When information about our activities spread, we received two financial grants from international organizations: European Film Agency Directors Association (EFAD) and Luxemburg Film Fond – in the amount of 10,000 euros each. We welcomed this news, as it meant that we might finally be able to help those in need financially. On the other hand, it immediately became clear that in order to receive and distribute money, we would have to operate as an NGO.
After many formalities, the NGO Filmmakers For Refugees was established in Germany.
By choosing such a name, we want to signal our desire to use our potential, the tools we have created and the contacts to help filmmakers in need in the future. Unfortunately, we have to assume that the war in Ukraine is not the last war and that there will always be creative people forced to leave their country or to fight with weapons other than art… We commit to helping them now.
Initial goals of the NGO:
– Creation of a charity committee, which will include Ukrainian filmmakers and representatives of Ukrainian institutions and people working for Filmmakers For Ukraine. The committee will decide transparently on the allocation of funds.
– Transparent and understandable presentation of the use of funds received.
– Maintaining a lean, flexible and non-bureaucratic structure and therefore minimal overhead.
– Direct fundraising, as well as through partnerships with key players in the market – industry organizations, but also events such as significant festivals (Cannes, the Munich Film Festival, etc.).
– Creation of charity screenings. Thanks to the support of Pantaflix, which will provide a technical solution for the safe and legal publishing of Ukrainian filmmakers’ films.
The Committee
In July 2022 the Charity Committee was established.
The committee’s members are:
Julia Sinkevych – Member of European Film Academy. Co-founder of Ukrainian Film Academy, Member Of The Supervisory Board in the Ukrainian Institute
Zhanna Maksymenko-Dovhych – The Head of the Directors Guild of Ukraine
Natalie Movshovych – the Head of Film in the Ukrainian Institute
Daria Badior – culture editor, critic, and journalist. She is a curator at Kyiv Critics’ Week film festival and co-founder of the Ukrainian Film Critics’ Union
Olga Kozhema – second-generation filmmaker, 2nd AD, Member of Filmmakers For Ukraine, organizer of many forms of assistance
Irena Gruca-Rozbicka – Member of Filmmakers For Ukraine, coordinator at Crew United
In the first meeting, the Committee agreed on priorities. Faced with numerous programs for people in creative departments and filmmakers with projects, the committee decided to focus on filmmakers who are excluded from applying for aid funds, i.e. departments below the line, older filmmakers and representatives of minorities. Those still in Ukraine will be supported first.
The Committee will reconsider requests received by Filmmakers For Ukraine since March 2022.
The next step will be to ask representatives of the Ukrainian film community – heads of departments and boards of professional organizations – to nominate filmmakers in particularly dire need of financial support.
Excluded from the funding will be:
– film projects – because the NGO FFR does not have enough resources to support the production of the film significantly
– filmmakers actively collaborating with Russian productions after 2014.
Kieser Award
One of the Committee’s first decisions will be to award the grants that Filmmakers For Refugees received as part of the Kieser Award, given to us by the organisation Humanitas.
Filmmakers of the creative professions can get these funds and a unique form of presentation at the award ceremony in Los Angeles (September 2022).
For help in compiling a list of nominations of talented Ukrainian filmmakers, NGO FFR turned to the Critics Guild, the organization behind the prestigious Critics Week competition held in Kiev.
The film critics Daria Badior, Serhiy Ksaverov, Anna Datsyuk and Stanislav Bitustkiy responded positively to our requests and created a list of 20 nominated filmmakers.
From this list, ten people will be selected by the committee to receive $1,000.
All transactions on the Filmmakers for Refugees account can be tracked here.