Expertise France has released the documentary film Ukraine: Resist, Rebuild and Innovate (French: Ukraine : Résister, reconstruire et innover), which includes the story of the preservation and digitisation of Suspilne’s archives. The film is available on the Expertise France website and YouTube channel.
The film tells the story of Ukraine, which, during the full-scale war, continues to implement reforms and prepare for reconstruction and accession to the European Union. Filming took place in Lviv, Kyiv and Chernihiv. The film’s protagonists include representatives of culture, media, justice, healthcare, entrepreneurship, and civil society.
One of the film’s segments is devoted to the work of Suspilne’s team with audiovisual heritage. During filming at Suspilne Lviv, the Expertise France team visited the archive storage facilities, saw the restoration and digitisation of magnetic tapes and film reels, and learned about the work of the Suspilne Mediateka platform.
“We are in a truly unique place — Suspilne’s archives, where Ukraine, through a combination of modern technologies and knowledge and skills that may seem to belong to a bygone era, is doing everything to protect, preserve and maintain its memory and identity. Entire layers of Ukrainian history are stored here, recorded on kilometres of film,” presenter and journalist Gallagher Fenwick says in the film.
Taisiia Turchyn, Director of Suspilne Mediateka Department, and Iryna Hots, Head of the Suspilne Mediateka website, spoke in the film about the preservation of the archives.
“The russians are destroying our cities and our history so that we cannot look back and understand who we are. That is why it is important for us to digitise and make archival materials public as quickly as possible — to protect our cultural and historical identity. The experience of leading French organisations helps us do this more correctly and quickly,” said Taisiia Turchyn.
The film crew with the Suspilne team during filming at Suspilne Lviv in the spring of 2026
“Expertise France continues to support Ukrainian institutions in addressing the dual challenge of resisting and rebuilding. This film shows that reforms of justice system and local governance, digitalisation and alignment with European standards, development of innovations, and strengthening healthcare system—all of this is continuing despite the war. Expertise France is honored to assist Ukraine on this path as a reliable partner”, said Sofia Oliynyk, Country Director of Expertise France in Ukraine.
As a reminder, Suspilne Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Expertise France, the French international technical cooperation agency. This partnership is aimed at developing archival work, preserving audiovisual heritage and exchanging international expertise in the digitisation of media archives within the mAIDan Facility Ukraine programme.
Following the reform of state television and radio channels, Suspilne inherited vast collections of video and audio data — not only from national broadcasters but also from all regional television and radio companies. The team digitises these recordings, organises them into catalogues and publishes them on the Suspilne Mediateka platform, where anyone can watch or listen to them.
Suspilne Ukraine is an independent media company with a strong presence across all platforms: the TV channels Pershyi, Suspilne Kultura, Suspilne Sport, and a national network of local channels; the radio stations Ukrainske Radio, Radio Promin, Radio Kultura, Radiotochka. Find only verified news on suspilne.media, as well as on our national and local digital platforms. We broadcast in minority languages, represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest, develop the children’s platform Brobaks, and train media professionals through the Public Media Academy. Our Suspilne Mediateka platform offers unique video and audio archives dating from the 1920s to today. Defending freedom in Ukraine.
Photos by Anna Srohyi
