Ukraine is a country of changemakers.
Every day, numerous Ukrainians do whatever it takes to change their home country for the better: They protest against air pollution from factories, try to make their cities more inclusive for people with disabilities and create new opportunities for the youth.
They often don’t get any support from the government.
To spotlight the country’s activists and their fight for progress, Ukrainian media outlet Zaborona launched a project called “Pidpalyui” (“Light it up” in English) in 2018. It includes several short videos about the initiatives of 30 local activists from all around Ukraine.
Yet there are many more activists in Ukraine whose stories need to be told.
So Zaborona is looking to produce another season of “Pidpalyui” and is looking for funding. On June 7, Zaborona started a campaign to raise Hr 280,000 (about $10,370) to produce a new season.
“Filming on this level is quite long and expensive, but these are the stories that penetrate to the very heart and help to believe in people, see them and support their contribution to the development of an open society,” Ekaterina Sergatskova, Zaborona’s editor in chief, wrote on Facebook on June 9.
Zaborona has so far raised about 10% of the needed sum. They hope to collect the rest of the money by July and start the production as soon as possible.
In Ukraine, where most television channels and media outlets are owned by oligarchs who use it to push their own political and personal interests, and independent media don’t get enough funding from paid subscription and advertising, independent outlets like Zaborona often turn to fundraising to help them achieve their goals.
Voice to changemakers
“Pidpalyui” is among Zaborona’s most successful projects.
“It helped thousands of people to learn about the changemakers shaping society and culture in Ukrainian cities,” the project’s website reads.
Apart from the video episodes that mix documentary style with some artistic touches, the project also produces big multimedia reports from eight Ukrainian oblasts such as Mariupol, Kherson, Zakarpattia, Luhansk, Donetsk, Chernivtsi, Kharkiv and Sumy.
The powerful and touching stories of “Pidpalyui” became a local hit, attracting hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. Each of the videos has English subtitles.
Sergatskova says Zaborona’s staff has been looking for meaningful protagonists for the project both online and offline, asking acquaintances and locals about initiatives worth covering.
“We tried to select those who are not yet widely known at the national level,” Sergatskova told the Kyiv Post.
The project started with an episode about activists in Mariupol, an Azov Sea port city of 560,000 located 780 kilometers east of Kyiv, not far from the front line of Russia’s war in the Donbas. Called “The Sun’s Scream,” the nine-minute episode follows three people “fighting for Mariupol,” each in their own way.
Mariupol is the second-most polluted city in Ukraine, according to the state agency Central Geophysical Observatory: The city is home to two steel plants owned by the notorious oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.
“The Sun’s Scream” spotlights activists protesting against pollution in the region. “We, Mariupol citizens, are used to seeing what we breathe in,” local activist Dmytro Chychera says at the beginning of the video.
The episode also highlights another activist who founded the first art platform in Mariupol that organizes various cultural events for the local youth that struggles with entertainment options.
Another video about a frontline city is set in Luhansk. It follows a public organization, Tumbler, that helps internally displaced people deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through socio-cultural and art events. They also organize raves for the residents of surrounding war-affected areas.
Other episodes address crucial issues like inclusive urban development and the many consequences of Russia’s war.
Upcoming season
Sergatskova says that Zaborona hopes to make the upcoming season no less powerful and impactful than the first one.
The upcoming season will combine five episodes from different regions of Ukraine, ten multimedia reports and a podcast series. According to Sergatskova, each video will be around 15 minutes long and focus on two or three local initiatives at a time. While the previous season focused more on Ukraine’s eastern oblasts, this time, Zaborona plans to draw attention to the country’s central and western regions.
Zaborona hopes to raise the needed funds as soon as possible. Filming is scheduled to be completed over the summer and the release is planned for early fall.
Aside from donating directly to the media, one can also purchase the “Ukrainian Photographic Alternative” book for Hr 1,790 ($66) or book two tickets for any of the film screenings at Kyiv’s Kino 42 cinema, which costs Hr 250 (around $9). Another option is to book the whole cinema for Hr 5,000 ($184) for a weekday evening. All money from book and ticket sales will be transferred to Zaborona.
Those who donate to “Pidpalyui” will have an opportunity to participate in the editorial process of choosing the heroes and cities to be covered in the next season. After the fundraiser is over, the media outlet will contact its donors, conducting a survey to collect their opinions.
“We welcome any recommendations,” Sergatskova says. “We are looking for independent indie groups that make changes.”
Zaborona also plans to add English subtitles to each of the upcoming episodes and even thinks of translating the videos into English to attract a bigger audience.
“(We) would like these stories to be seen outside Ukraine,” Sergatskova says.
Donate to fund the production of the new episodes of “Pidpalyui” here.
