The Association of Non-Fiction Film of Ukraine presentation is an open event introducing the organization’s activities. The Association unites creators of audiovisual works based on documentary material, including documentary, hybrid cinema, and docu-animation. The event program presents an overview of the Association's strategic directions, including initiatives in advocacy, education, promotion of Ukrainian non-fiction cinema, and international cooperation. The event will serve as a platform for dialogue among industry professionals and an opportunity to discuss the community's challenges faces. All interested participants will be invited to join the Association as new members.
Participants:
Olha Bregman, Nadiia Parfan, Yelyzaveta Smith, Ivan Sautkin, Anna Kapustina
Moderator: Lena Chychenina
Olha Bregman is a Ukrainian producer with more than 15 years of experience in film production. She is a co-founder of a women-led 2Brave Productions.
Her credits include award-winning movies such as Rules of Two Walls (Special Jury Prize at Tribeca FF 2023) by David Gutnik, STOP-ZEMLIA by Kateryna Hornostai (Crystal Bear Generation 14+ at Berlinale 2021), and Intercepted by Oksana Karpovych (Two Special Mention Awards at Berlinale 2024). Olha has also produced Kateryna Hornostai’s Timestamp, which premiered in the Competition at Berlinale 2025, and Collapse. How the Ukrainians ruined the Empire of Evil (2021 Documentary Series for Ukrainian National Channel). Alumni of the Ex Oriente and Eurodoc training programs.
Nadiia Parfan is a film director, creative producer, and curator of cultural projects. Co-founder of the International Festival of Film and Urbanism 86 in Slavutych, Ukraine (2014–2018) and the production company Phalanstery Films. Founder and curator of the Ukrainian online cinema platform Takflix.com. Member of the Ukrainian Film Academy, the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, and the Documentary Film Association. Director and screenwriter of Reve ta stohne on Tour (Special Jury Mention at Docudays UA, 2016), Heat Singers (Golden Dzyga and Kinokolo awards for Best Documentary, 2019), and It’s a Date (Special Mention of the Berlinale Jury, 2023). Producer of the anthology MyStreetFilmsUkraine (2015–2018) and the special project Takflix Original.
Yelyzaveta Smith is a director and screenwriter. Graduated from Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University in 2014 with a degree in narrative film directing. During her studies, she directed short fiction films that were shown at Ukrainian film festivals. She worked for a time as a TV director. Co-founder of the film company Tabor. She began working in documentary during the 2013–2014 revolution. Since December 2014, she has volunteered in Mykolaivka, Donetsk region, leading theatre workshops with schoolchildren. There, she co-directed School #3, which won the Grand Prix of the Berlinale Generation 14+ program in 2017. She was the lead director of the socio-cultural theatre project Class Act East-West, and directed documentary plays at the Theatre of Displaced People. Co-director (with Alina Horlova and Semen Mozhovyi) of the film Militantropos, which wasl premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival 2025. Participant in international programs such as Berlinale Talents, TorinoFilmLab, The Write Retreat, MidPoint Feature Launch, Sundance Script Lab, and others. Member of both the Ukrainian and European Film Academies. Recipient of KyivPost’s “30 under 30” award.
Ivan Sautkin is a director, cinematographer, artist, curator of art projects, owner of ZHOVID THE RESIDENCE, and co-founder of #BABYLON’13. He received his film education in Ukraine and the Netherlands. He taught film directing at the Kyiv Academy of Media Arts and the ZHOVID DIRECTORS CAMPUS.
Ivan Sautkin is the director of several film works, including short films produced as part of #BABYLON’13 in 2013–2014, the documentary series The Winter That Changed Us (2014), Stronger Than Arms (2015), and A Poem for Little People (2023). He is now working on the film DNA of the Nation (expected in 2026).
Anna Kapustina is a producer and owns, the ALBATROS COMMUNICOS FILM production company. From 2003 to 2014, she produced commercials, TV programs and international reality shows. Since 2014, she has been the producer of the Ukrainian cinematographic community #BABYLON`13 and NGO HERO.UA. Anna is a member of the European Film Academy and the Ukrainian Film Academy. Her documentary The First Company was awarded the Docudays Audience Award and nominated for the Best Ukrainian Documentary. The Earth Is Blue As an Orange (2020), winner of the Best Director Award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2020, and took part in Berlinale 2020, HotDoc, IDFA, CPH:DOX and more than 100 Festivals and won more than 40 Awards. Her last documentary, A Bit of A Stranger, had its world premiere at the Berlinale 2024.
Lena Chychenina is a journalist, film reviewer for Espresso TV channel and editor-in-chief of the Antonina project at Detector Media.
Her professional career began in 2006 when she worked as a music and book review editor at Radio Zaporizhzhia. Later, she became an art reviewer at the Voice of the Capital radio station. Today, Chychenina publishes materials on culture and media, mainly focusing on Ukrainian cinema, the work of relevant government agencies and the development of the film industry.
