Mavka: The Forest Song will be the first Ukrainian production to take part in Europe’s annual Cartoon Movie feature film pitching event

Mavka: The Forest Song, produced by Animagrad and the FILM.UA Group, was the first Ukrainian animation project to pass the highly competitive selection process for the Cartoon Movie forum.

Cartoon Movie is among Europe’s most prominent industry events. On March 8–10 in Bordeaux (France), the creative team behind Mavka: The Forest Song – producers Iryna Kostyuk, Anna Eliseeva, and Egor Olesov, along with costume designer Olga Navrotska – will unveil the film at Cartoon Movie to producers, broadcasters, distributors, and investors from around the world.

“It is a huge honor for us to present the first Ukrainian production to be accepted to an influential international event of this caliber,” says producer Iryna Kostyuk, “especially since Mavka is more than just a movie: it is, in a sense, an animated record of authentic Ukrainian culture, and is a worthy ambassador for new Ukrainian animation around the world. We are thrilled that our Mavka will be the first Ukrainian production to take part in the forum. This means that the event’s Organizing Committee was greatly impressed by our intention to promote our cultural and ethnic heritage, and recognized the potential in our unique central character and the movie as a whole. Acceptance to the Cartoon Movie pitching event is our first significant ‘win’ in Europe, and our first step in popularizing Ukrainian culture abroad.”

In 2016, Ukraine took part in Creative Europe, the European Union’s program for supporting the culture and creative sectors. To Ukrainian companies, this meant new opportunities and access to a number of prestigious EU cultural and media programs. For Ukraine-based Animagrad Animation Studio, it was a chance to submit Mavka: The Forest Song to Cartoon Movie, an opportunity the studio was quick to take up.

“I am happy to see that the decision to add Ukraine to the EU’s Creative Europe project is starting to yield the first tangible results for Ukrainian culture, the country’s creative industries, and cultural diplomacy,” comments Head of the Creative Europe Desk Ukraine Iryna Vikyrchak. “We are confident it will be a catalyst for development on the Ukrainian market and for cooperation between Ukraine and other European nations. Our congratulations to Mavka!”

Cartoon Movie has been held since 1999. Each year, the pitching and coproduction forum hosts approximately 50 European animated features selected by the organizers. Selections include projects at various stages of completion, from concept and development to production. In 2017, Cartoon Movie will present 56 projects, including the first Ukrainian production to be accepted to the event, Mavka: The Forest Song, in the “concept” category.

Cartoon Movie brings together around a thousand professionals from around the world for two days of pitching sessions designed to promote the year’s best European animation projects. Since its inaugural year, Cartoon Movie has helped 262 animated films find financing totaling over EUR 1.8 billion. Some of the world’s most beloved European animation projects got started here: The Triplets of Belleville (2003, César Award, two Oscar nominations), A Cat in Paris (2010, Oscar and César nominations), Chico & Rita (2010, Goya Award, Oscar nomination), Ernest & Celestine (2012, César Award, Oscar nomination), Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015, Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, BAFTA Award), My Life as a Zucchini (2016, Golden Camera nomination at the Cannes Film Festival), and others.

“It is crucial for our studio, and for our country, to present its work alongside Europe’s best projects,” says Anna Eliseeva of the company’s plans for the future. “This is our first appearance on such a wide professional stage. We intend to showcase the full beauty of distinctly Ukrainian imagery and of our culture’s unique blend of tradition and modernity. That’s why, along with the presentation, we are also working carefully on a certain performance aspect for the forum.”

Mavka: The Forest Song is a full-length animated feature produced by Ukraine-based Animagrad (FILM.UA Group). It is currently at the concept stage of development. The film is inspired by a play of the same name by Lesya Ukrainka, as well as by various Ukrainian legends and cultural traditions. The film’s production crew includes experts from leading ethnography institutes: the Ukrainian Studies Center at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, the Ivan Honchar Museum, and the Ukrainian Fashion Museum. The experts are there to ensure the authenticity of the Ukrainian myths and legends, religious beliefs, rituals, and visual culture translated into the singular animated world of Mavka. And the world-renowned group DakhaBrakha has already committed to creating the film’s soundtrack: the musicians are currently working on the project’s first teaser, which will be unveiled at the Berlin International Film Festival’s European Film Market in February.

In September 2016, the animated feature Mavka: The Forest Song won the ninth contest held by the Ukrainian State Film Agency and was awarded state financing in the amount of 30% of the film’s total budget. Mavka: The Forest Song is scheduled for release in Ukraine in late 2018–early 2019.