Creative Loop: How Can Ukrainian War Documentarians Move Beyond the Expected?

Inga Pylypchuk (b. 1986, Ukraine) is a Berlin-based filmmaker and author. After studying philology and literature in Kyiv and Berlin, and working for several years in journalism and film criticism, she shifted her focus to documentary filmmaking. Her mid-length films How Far Is Close (2023) and Teen Angst (2024) premiered at FilmFestival Cottbus and have screened across Europe. Her work bridges cultures and explores intimate autobiographical narratives.

Darya Bassel has a background in TV and commercial production. In 2011, she joined Docudays UA IHRDFF, initially as a programmer and later as head of the industry platform. She became a producer in 2013 and has participated in Eurodoc, Ex Oriente, and EAVE. Notable titles she has produced include OUTSIDE (2022), the drama BUTTERFLY VISION (2022), and the satirical drama THE EDITORIAL OFFICE (2024). Her latest title, SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH, directed by Olha Zhurba, premiered in Venice in 2024 and received multiple awards.

Megumi Lim is a Kyiv-based documentary filmmaker from Singapore. She began her career as a video journalist at the Reuters bureau in Tokyo, and for about a decade - based in Tokyo and then as a freelancer in Beijing - she reported on news stories across Asia. She relocated to Ukraine in 2023, where she transitioned to storytelling through documentary film. Her first film „Night Shift“, which was shot during the hours of curfew and tells the story of night shift workers in Ukraine's frontline city of Kharkiv, won the Audience Award at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival this year.

Brigid O’Shea is an Australian native who has worked for European film festivals and documentary organisations since 2008. Holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts obtained in Melbourne and Berlin, she started at the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2008. She worked for various Berlinale departments as a freelancer until 2014, including the EFM and Co-Production Market, until taking a more focused approach on creative documentary. This came from coordinating the DOK Industry Programme from 2009-2015, which allowed her to also freelance for the Institute of Documentary Film in Prague, for Documentary Campus Masterschool, and Berlin-based production companies. She was appointed Head of DOK Industry Programme in January 2015. She regularly tutors on topics like European co-financing, cultural management and festival strategies in places like North America and East Europe. In February 2020 she co-launched the Documentary Association of Europe.

Maksym Nakonechnyi is a Ukrainian director, screenwriter, and producer. He completed his directing studies at the National Karpenko-Kary University of Theatre, Film and Television in Kyiv in 2012. He worked on various television projects and co-founded the independent production company Tabor, which produces documentaries and feature films, theatre productions, and commercials. He previously directed the short fiction films “Invisible” (2017) and “New Year’s Eve with the Family” (2018). His feature debut “Butterfly Vision” premiered in 2022 at Cannes in the “Un Certain Regard” section. It was also presented at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Warsaw International Film Festival. To date, the film has won 5 awards and received 26 nominations at renowned film festivals (2022 – Golden Duke at the Odesa International Film Festival; 2023 – Cineuropa Award at the Trieste Film Festival, among others).