Ukraine has joined the European Film Agency Directors association (EFAD) – a European association that unites 35 national film and audiovisual agencies.
This was reported by the press service of the State Film Agency, Ukrinform reports.
As noted, this became known during the EFAD offsite plenary meeting at the Cannes Film Festival with the participation of Ukrainian representatives – the head of the State Film Agency Marina Kuderchuk and the executive director of the Ukrainian Film Association Victoria Yarmoshchuk, who spoke about the current state of the Ukrainian film industry and the possibility of cooperation with our country.
EFAD representatives announced initiatives introduced to support Ukraine. In particular, EFAD and the National Center for Cinematography and Animation of France (CNC), German Film Funds (including the National Fund FFA), the Netherlands Film Fund (Netherlands Film Fund) and the Luxembourg Film Fund (Film Fund Luxembourg) have made donations to the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk).
The coalition created a special “Emergency Fund for Directors” to help filmmakers who are in danger because of the war in Ukraine. In addition, EFAD and Film Fund Luxembourg will contribute to the Filmmakers for Ukraine platform, which helps Ukrainian filmmakers find specialized work abroad.
They also spoke about initiatives to support Ukrainian film professionals from the Polish Film Institute, the Estonian Film Institute, the Estonian Cinema Union, the Lithuanian Film Center, and the BFI, a charitable British organization in the field of cinema. , Italian Ministry of Culture.
“By condemning the invasion of Ukraine and expressing its solidarity with our people, EFAD and its members have taken concrete steps to provide support to Ukrainian film professionals both in Ukraine and in the states where they have found refuge. We really appreciate this support and are very grateful for the invitation to join the EFAD association without paying membership fees for the next two years, which we will certainly use to further strengthen cooperation between the Ukrainian and European film industries,” comments Marina Kuderchuk, head of Goskino.
The European Film Agency Directors association (EFAD) includes the countries of the European Union, as well as Iceland, Norway, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.