As part of the development of production for a future feature project, representatives of ARTE France visited the main office of Suspilne in Kyiv—content director Boris Razon and screenwriter Laura Freducci, as well as renowned French director and screenwriter Jacques Audiard. They were joined by Olivier Schulzinger, screenwriter, producer, and director of the independent publishing house Les Petits Matins.
“I am especially grateful to our partners for coming to Kyiv despite the difficult security situation. A year ago, we signed an Association Agreement with ARTE, and today we are already working together on the development of our first joint fiction project. For Suspilne, this is a new experience, and we are fortunate to share it with world-class partners,” said Mykola Chernotytskyi, Chief Executive Officer at the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.
Jacques Audiard and Tom Tykwer—these are the masters of European cinema whom ARTE France invited to collaborate on the project. The German public broadcaster ZDF/ARTE and the independent Berlin-based company X Filme Creative Pool joined the project, and at the invitation of ARTE France, producers Nataliya Libet and Olga Bregman — founders of the Ukrainian independent film production company 2BRAVE PRODUCTIONS — also joined it.
On behalf of Suspilne, the project is being developed by Serhii Nedzelskyi, Director of the External Production and Co-production Department of the Audiovisual Content Directorate.
“This project is a natural continuation of the cooperation between Suspilne and ARTE within the framework of the agreement on partnership that was concluded last year. ARTE approached us with a proposal to join the development of a fiction project that will be dedicated to contemporary life in present-day Kyiv. Jacques Audiard was invited for this, and later ZDF/ARTE and Tom Tykwer also joined.
We are currently holding meetings with various screenwriters and directors to understand the direction in which this story may develop. Due to difficult logistical circumstances, Tom Tykwer was unable to join the work in Kyiv in person, but he is present at all meetings online, and his expertise is greatly helping to shape the form of the future project,” said Serhii Nedzelskyi.
The purpose of the French filmmakers’ visit to Kyiv and the Suspilne office was to meet Ukrainian screenwriters and directors who will later work on the story about the present-day reality of the war in Kyiv, as well as image becoming acquainted with the city and everyday life in it.
“Well, this is a very important project for us right now. The more we work on it, the more we realize that it is urgent because it concerns what is happening right now and what will be happening in the coming months in Ukraine. So our task here now, as guests of Suspilne, is to find a solution as to the form in which we create it, while combining this with the great aesthetic ambitions that we are putting into it,” said Boris Razon, Content Director of ARTE France.
French director and screenwriter Jacques Audiard is visiting Kyiv for the second time as part of a creative delegation. During his first trip, he came up with the idea for a project about contemporary life in the city.
“This is my second visit to Kyiv, and I like it very much. It is a wonderful place. When I first came here, I had the idea to make the project that we are working on right now. I think that for us this is a challenge — addressing the Ukrainian audience and, at the same time, the European audience, which are quite noticeably different. After all, viewers there cannot feel what Ukrainians are feeling now under these conditions,” shared Jacques Audiard.
At the same time, Jacques Audiard spoke about his vision for the future project:
“Usually, when you create a fiction project, you deal with the ‘ordinary’ and add something ‘extraordinary’ to it. Here it is the other way around, and I like that. We are in the realm of the ‘extraordinary’, and we have to add elements of ordinary life to what is already ‘extraordinary’.”
Producer Nataliya Libet shared her memories of how, in 2024, she and Olga Bregman met Tom Tykwer’s company and team. Together they created the fiction film “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming” by director Isabelle Stever, which was recently released at the Locarno Festival. This year, they met Jacques Audiard. Nataliya considers it a magical coincidence that ARTE invited them to join the project specifically with these artists.
“I was invited to a project about Kyiv with Kyiv actors and a Kyiv team, and I could not refuse. It will be a story about the contemporary atmosphere of the city, where every day we experience many emotions and anxieties,” said Nataliya Libet. “We live in this reality, and it makes Kyiv and its residents unique characters, but still ordinary people: it is about a baker, a teacher, a doctor or a businessman, about any person who wakes up every morning and makes coffee for us or drives a garbage truck during nighttime attacks. This is the surrealism of our life, filled with fear, but also with love and hope.”
Nataliya Libet also emphasized that the project will be aimed not only at a European audience, and that the creative team has the ambition to create a story that Ukrainians themselves will love:
“This is not only a project for a European audience to show Ukraine today. If we look at how similar projects work on the global map, they resonate only when they have a strong response within the country itself. That is, if they are so authentic and filled with local details and national culture as to find a place in the heart of the Ukrainian viewer, then it will one hundred percent resonate with the European viewer,” Nataliya Libet is convinced.
Jacques Audiard added how important it is to the team that the project be created by Ukrainians about Ukrainians:
“We are here now to meet directors and screenwriters. Because although the project was initiated by ARTE, it will be entirely Ukrainian — Ukrainian production, Ukrainian screenwriters, Ukrainian actors, Ukrainian directors — we are only the initiators, and that is all. Because we are convinced that a project about Ukraine must be created by Ukrainians. This is the most important thing for us.”
During the visit, the French colleagues became acquainted with the work of the Suspilne Broadcasting team, including during air raid alerts. They were impressed by the technical setup of the shelter and expressed gratitude and support for the courageous defense of the interests of democracy and freedom.
As a reminder, Suspilne Broadcasting signed an agreement with ARTE G.E.I.E. (Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne) on association, which entered into force on January 1, 2026.
ARTE is a European public television channel and pan-European digital platform. ARTE brings together partner public broadcasters from different European countries and specializes in high-quality documentaries, news and analytical programs, cultural content, fiction series and innovative digital formats. ARTE consists of three entities: the headquarters of ARTE G.E.I.E. (Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne, a European Economic Interest Grouping), located in Strasbourg, and its two members — ARTE France in Paris and ARTE Deutschland TV GmbH in Baden-Baden.
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.
