Filmmakers For Ukraine received a special mention at IBC trade show

Phillip Covell (center, with award) and Danielle Weigner, Cinegy (on the right) – IBC Social Impact Award winners – and Filmmakers For Ukraine honorees (from left): Romanas Matulis (Crew United Lithuania), Calvin Walker (Filmmakers For Refugees), Irena Gruca-Rozbicka (Crew United Poland).

Crew United received a special award for Filmmakers for Ukraine at IBC – International Broadcasting Convention 2022 in Amsterdam.

The IBC Social Impact Awards recognise projects that drive inclusivity and sustainability, whilst the IBC Innovation Awards mark advances in creating engaging and original content.

The initiative “Support for Ukrainian Media Professionals”, selected by IBC for a special award, was launched in February 2022, to help broadcasters still active in Ukraine and to find work for those fleeing the conflict.

Phillip Covell, the initiative’s founder, invited Crew United for Filmmakers for Ukraine and other innovators actively supporting Ukrainian media professionals to share the award. Several team members of Filmmakers for Ukraine visited IBC to receive the award and spread awareness.

The next day, Monday, September 12, as part of the IBC Changemakers speaker series, there was a panel titled “IBC Awards Showcase: Support for the Ukrainian Media Professionals,” featuring Phillip Covell and Irena Gruca-Rozbicka (Filmmakers For Ukraine). The history of both initiatives was presented. Both Covell and Gruca-Rozbicka renewed their organizations’ appeal to the audiovisual community: a lot has been done, but there is still a lot to do.

Widespread industry support and involvement is still needed so that Ukrainian filmmakers and broadcasters can convey to the world a true picture of the tragic events in their country, and hopefully rebuild the Ukrainian audiovisual industry soon.

IBC2022 Awards