Mariia Shevchenko

My motivation for my project “Friendship of Peoples“

For me, as a director, it is extremely important to be in the war. I want to see and feel as much as possible with my own eyes. Thus, the stories that I tell will gain a deeper sense. I make movies because this way I can document important changes in the lives of people and my country. War changes everything very quickly. A person or a whole house may not be there tomorrow. At the same time, I see that in the place of social ties destroyed by missiles, people are creating new ones. And this is new history. I want to speak to the world in film, because I believe that honestly and professionally made film will make the world a better place.
The project for which I am applying for the scholarship is important to me because I explore the world through filming. I set my own goals, which encourage me to go further and continue filming.

How do you plan to use the scholarship?

I have now decided to leave my full-time job as a journalist in order to be able to make movies and share my own thoughts through films.
I want to earn the money that a scholarship requires in order to make movies better. It’s important for me to get the color grading director, sound designer, and animator together, because these professionals will be able to take the film to a higher level. Bearing in mind that I do not have a fixed income, I would spend the scholarship on petrol, and on the operator’s salary. We now documenting with our own money, and quite often it is not easy to feel like a free when we are forced to earn money.
As a result of the invasion of Russia, my homeland is now under occupation. From Kyiv, where I lived the last 7 years I went, because I filmed a movie in Kharkiv. I plan to use the money for renting a house among other things.

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