Age: 27
Education: Lviv Business School of Ukrainian Catholic University
Profession: Founder of the Accessible Cinema initiative
Did you know? She spoke at the United Nations New York headquarters as one of the first youth delegates from Ukraine in 2015
Viktoriya Luchka is a leader. She is the co-founder of the Accessible Cinema initiative, director of the NGO Fight for Right and an organizer of the “I See! I Can! I Will!” charitable cycling marathon.
That amount of work is no small feat, and Luchka’s considerable energy and drive allow her to balance her many projects.
Several years ago, she was accepted into a two-semester study abroad program in New York while working as a youth delegate at the United Nations. While studying in America, she saw how volunteer work was very natural for American citizens.
When she returned to Ukraine, she joined the Institute of Ukrainian Studies, inspired by Mykola Pekh, a fellow activist. When he died, she implemented his idea of tandem bike riding with blind people in his memory. Those bike rides grew into “I see! I can! I will!,” a 30-day charitable bike marathon that raised money to create “Sensoteca,” inclusive spaces for the blind and sighted. That first bike ride was the start of her activism, Luchka says.
“I saw that what you do can have a very concrete effect on people, and that is very addictive.”
Luchka says she had to decide whether her activism should grow into a profession or be a hobby.
That changed in 2016, when she and a friend had just finished watching a foreign film at a film festival with no audio description. Her friend had vision problems, and after the movie, they discussed how it would be great if that film had been accessible. They walked around and thought: Why don’t we do it?
They could hardly imagine where that idea would take them.
Three years later, thanks to Luchka’s hard work, the Odessa International Film Festival became inclusive for the first time. The movie “The Price of Truth” will be accessible in all cinemas across Ukraine.
Luchka realized that she doesn’t want to search for happiness in any other field, and that if she wants to engage in civic activities, she should work as an activist.
Ukraine’s movie theaters don’t cater to many disabled people’s needs, and her Accessible Cinema initiative aims to change that. The project has already created audio description for about 30 films in Ukraine.
Luchka believes that all of Ukraine’s state-financed films should be required to provide audio descriptions to audiences.
“Those films that are funded by our taxes should be accessible to everyone,” she said. “It should be the next logical step for the State Film Agency not only to support Ukrainian cinematography but also to support its accessibility.”
Ukrainian cinemas also lack infrastructure. Even if a film does have audio descriptions, someone may show up to a theatre and have no equipment to use them.
So Luchka’s initiative has introduced a phone app where anyone can access audio descriptions and subtitles for films. Her vision is to bring accessibility to every theatre and for every Ukrainian film to budget for audio descriptions.
“We want people with visual or hearing impairment to be able to participate freely in the life of society, and, if they want to go to the cinema, not to have to go to a special place but to watch any film at any cinema.”
This accessibility app became available with the new film Mr. Jones, released on Nov. 28.
In the future, the project also plans to provide accessibility for films and TV shows watched at home. People will be able to access audio descriptions from their couch while watching the upcoming premiere of the TV show Vidmorojyny (Frostbitten) on the 1+1 channel.
