With the support of the IZOLYATSIA Cultural Foundation, MDKF Kids Movie Fest carried out the film project “The Country of My Dream” during russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

The project brought together young people from the Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih communities for free film residencies, where they learned to create documentary films about their cities with the support of experienced mentors.
Over seven intensive days, participants took part in workshops, practical filmmaking sessions, and masterclasses led by film professionals. At the end of the residency, they received certificates, gained new creative skills, and presented their films at a special premiere event.
The project was inclusive and also welcomed teenagers with hearing impairments. Participation was free of charge for all participants.

With the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, MDKF Kids Movie Fest carried out the film project “UKRAINIAN VIDEO BLOGGING COURSE” in 2023 for young people from Myrhorod, Kryvyi Rih, and Okhtyrka.

The project included three seven-day film camps for teenagers aged 14–18. During the camps, participants learned how to create Ukrainian-language video content for YouTube and social media, exploring the full filmmaking process from idea development to filming and editing. The programme was practice-based, with a strong focus on shooting, rehearsals, and teamwork.
The project was inclusive and also involved teenagers with hearing impairments. A teacher of the deaf was part of the team.
As a result, participants developed new creative and technical skills, worked together as film crews, and created their own short films and video projects. Each camp ended with a special Red Carpet event, where the films were screened on the big screen and the participants received diplomas. Participation in the project was free of charge.
135 teenagers took part in the competitive selection for the youth project "UKRAINIAN VIDEO BLOGGING COURSE", successfully passed it and became participants in the program.

MDKF Kids Movie Fest carried out “Okhtyrka Movie Lab”, a free one-week film camp for 25 teenagers from Okhtyrka and the Sumy region. The project took place during the Russia–Ukraine war, in extremely difficult circumstances, including a blackout, yet the participants continued their work and completed their films.

The project was made possible thanks to the support of Kultur Aktiv (Germany), Ta(r)dino 6 Art Platform (Azerbaijan), IZOLYATSIA Platform for Cultural Initiatives (Ukraine), and the Cultural Solidarity programme of the European Cultural Foundation and the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
Over seven days, the teenagers took part in an intensive practical filmmaking programme led by a team of professionals. They explored the full creative process, from idea development to filming and editing, and learned how to work with documentary form.
As a result, the participants created short films about their feelings, their city, and their experience of life during wartime. The project gave them new creative and technical skills, as well as a space for expression, reflection, and shared experience. Participation in the project was free of charge.

Film Night for Ukraine presented 18 short films by young filmmakers aged 13–18. These were winning films from the Ukrainian International Children’s Film Festival Kids Movie Fest, selected from the festival’s editions between 2017 and 2021. The films explored the thoughts, fears, dreams, and hopes of Ukrainian teenagers.The event was introduced by Svitlana Pohasiy, director of Kids Movie Fest, who had temporarily relocated to the UK with her daughter because of the war.
The funds raised during the screening helped create a film camp in Kyiv for young people who had been displaced from occupied territories, including Mariupol, Kherson, Melitopol, and Crimea, and who had lived through the horrors of occupation and the first months of the full-scale war.

With the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, Kids Movie Fest carried out the inclusive social project “Planet of Silence 3” during the COVID-19 quarantine. The project brought together 30 young people from Kyiv, half of whom were teenagers with hearing impairments.The project explored loneliness through performance, filmmaking, and movement, creating a shared creative space for deaf teenagers and young people from socially vulnerable backgrounds. Over three months, participants worked with acting, stage movement, communication exercises, and sign language.
Together, they created the performance “Talk to Me, Mum!”, which was later turned into a film and screened at festivals. The project became a space for empathy, collaboration, and creative discovery.

“Planet of Silence 2” was a 10-day creative and social project for 30 teenagers. Half of the participants were young people with hearing impairments from a boarding school for deaf children, while the other half were students from a film school. Together, they created movement-based performances under the guidance of professional mentors.The project focused on communication within families and helped participants connect, support one another, and discover new creative ways of expressing themselves.
At the heart of the project was a specially designed programme that included acting, stage movement, pantomime, and sign language sessions led by the deaf participants themselves.