XYZ Films is an American film production and sales company founded in 2008 by Aram Tertzakian, Nate Bolotin, and Nick Spicer. It focuses on international genre films and has produced successful movies like The Raid: Redemption, The Raid 2, and On the Job.

Organization of Ukrainian Producers OUP

XYZ Films

Our organization was created in March 2022 in response to the Russian army’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. The mission of the Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP) is make movies about premises, course and consequences of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine. We support Ukrainian movie professionals in hard times, and tell the world stories of the war directly

Co-founders of OUP, Daria Leygonie Fialko  and Igor Storchak shared their comments for Variety for an article, devoted to the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion and published during Berlinale. 

https://lnkd.in/d2sMEYdi

According to the publication, Ukrainian film professionals remain «steadfast and defiant» despite the physical, emotional and economic toll of the war.

«The main challenge now is to keep the spirit of the team high», says Daria Leygonie-Fialko. 

According to Ihor Storchak for Variety, a string of recent deals offers an encouraging sign that the interest for Ukrainian content in the world is still robust. Producer announced that Dark Star Pictures acquired North American rights to release STAY ONLINE (produced by OUP, Mamas Film Production and AMO Pictures) - Ukrainian war drama which was the first full-length feature film to be shot after 24 February 2022. “Stay Online” was made using the Screenlife format, which takes place almost entirely on characters’ smartphones and computer screens.

New documentary Amateurs is based on hundreds of interviews with Ukrainian civilians who joined the Territorial Defense Forces after February 24, 2022. The audience will see the war through their eyes: from the moment they took the decision, followed by battles, deaths, feelings of optimism, strength, pain and kindness. Viewers will follow step-by-step transformation of “the peaceful” into warriors. Amateurs was produced by Volodymyr Borodiansky (Organization of Ukrainian Producers, OUP) and Ilona Shneider. 

During the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion, more than 100,000 Ukrainian men and women joined the national resistance as part of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (TrO). Almost none of them had any military experience.

Maksym Kurochkin, one of the authors: “We believe that it is important for history to preserve an uncensored version of events. To portray not the professionals they became but the beginners. They recall their journey and bring us closer to understanding of the nature of invincibility. We wanted a camera to look at every Ukrainian defender as if they were a Hollywood star. After all, few Hollywood stars have experienced the kind of adventures and difficult internal choices that our heroes faced. These people are beautiful. It’s our duty to make the world love them as we love them.”

Volodymyr Borodiansky said: “The creative team did a great job so that the protagonists shared the thoughts you see in the film. I think the true value of the film will be revealed in the future, when the events of these years take a back seat. We managed to capture a vivid and significant moment of the era. Filming took place in late 2022, early 2023. That is the time when Ukrainian society mobilized all its forces, when regular missile attacks and blackouts combined with the feeling of the Ukrainian preserved statehood. In addition to being a historical document, the film Amateurs can serve as a support and a source of strength for a viewer at the moment of important life choices.”

The creative team filmed a huge amount of material, and only a fraction was included in the film. The producers intend to transfer the entire material to the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory and make it available to future cinematographers and historians.

The film Amateurs was financed wholly by its producers. The total budget was about two million hryvnias (around $65,000). In addition to exhibitions on STB and NV, OUP is currently negotiating distribution with OTT platforms, international distributors and Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

#documentary #documentaryfilm #ukraine #war 

«STAY ONLINE is gripping, devastating, and completely brilliant. One of the most powerful films of the year». Liz Whittemore, Reel News Daily. 

«STAY ONLINE explores the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity, and reminds us of the indomitable power of compassion and the strength found in unity. The film reminds us that heroism is not limited to those who wear capes and masks but also extends to ordinary individuals who go above and beyond». Vanessa Stewart, Mother of Movies.

These are just the first comments from international film critics who attended the premiere screening of STAY ONLINE. 

These days Canada is hosting the 27th Fantasia International Film Festival, whose mission is to explore different areas of genre cinema. Every year, the festival attracts film industry representatives from all over the world to present their films. 

The premiere of the film STAY ONLINE took place on 22 July and aroused great interest among the audience. The film was presented by director Eva Strelnikova and creative producer Anton Skrypets. 

STAY ONLINE (produced by OUP, Mamas Production and AMO Pictures) was the first full-length feature film to be shot after 24 February 2022. Filming took place in Kyiv, Bucha, Irpin and other Ukrainian cities.

Variety // Christopher Vourlias, 17.06.2023  https://lnkd.in/ds6aAiUS

The Hollywood News // Kat Hughes , 23.06.2023
https://lnkd.in/dY95WJNA 

Screen International // Amber Wilkinson , 23.06.2023
https://lnkd.in/duaEGaEK

The Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP) are a partner of the performance by the famous Lithuanian artist Monika Dirsite and social activist Agne Grigaliunene. 

OUP films are part of the performance "OPEN NATO'S DOORS FOR UKRAINE NOW", which is taking place in Vilnius at these minutes. 

The performance structure includes a glass maze and TV monitor relaying documentary footage from Ukraine. As she crawls through the transparent maze, the performer (Dirsytė) experiences stifling confinement, she is seen, yet her sensations are encased in glass. In the same way, the war is mediatized yet cannot be experienced even from a short distance away—another performer (Grigaliūnienė) is continuously looking at the monitor. The public is invited to watch two events unfolding simultaneously behind glass—the live performance and recorded footage. The performance presents existential suffering along the labyrinthine path toward liberation.

Footage from the first OUP documentaries made during 2022 broadcast on a monitor in a glass maze. Among these films are stories of survivors of the occupation in Mariupol and the Kyiv region - "Mariupol. Unlost Hope", "Fury Makes Me Breathe" and "How to Survive When You Are Being Killed". The stories of the volunteers who saved animals from shelling at the cost of their own lives are told in the documentary "9 Lives". There are also images from "ART in WAR", a film about musicians and artists who took up arms and went to the front to defend their country. Unique footage from the film "Against All Odds", which explores why the Russian blitzkrieg failed, will complete the overall picture and help the viewers of the performance to experience all that the Ukrainians experienced in the first year of the full-scale invasion and what they continue to experience every day until now.

Igor Storchak, co-founder of OUP:
«More than 500 days Ukraine has been fighting against the Russian armed invasion. We have endured so much during this time, and despair often overwhelms us. But there are moments when it becomes clear that everything we do is not in vain. When our colleagues from Vilnius asked for materials from films produced by the Organization of Ukrainian Producers to be shown during the NATO summit, it was one of those moments. Each of us contributes seemingly a tiny bit, but we are confident that our collective efforts will soon break the neck of Goliath. Slava Ukraini!». 

Volodymyr Borodyansky, Daria Leygonie Fialko, Alla Lipovetskaya

"It has been a very productive year. We made nine documentaries and one feature film. Our films were seen by millions of viewers in more than 30 countries, which means that our mission to tell the world about the Russian military aggression was accomplished. Our second goal was to support the Ukrainian film and TV industry and give people jobs. We recruited over 300 people to work on the films. We shot the first films with our own money, parts of the profit were reinvested. We also spent the whole year looking for co-production partners", - Daria Leygonie Fialko, co-founder of OUP

TVBIZZ // Georgi R. C., 19.06.2023 

https://lnkd.in/dTEZUr7E

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