The Ukrainian audiovisual sector is experiencing a deep crisis due to Russia's aggressive military operations on Ukrainian territory. Bearing this fact in mind, and being aware of the creative potential of Ukrainian authors, Polish Television (TVP) is organizing a competition called "Talents: Ukraine!" for the best script for a TV series. The competition is addressed to authors from Ukraine, and this project is part of the 2nd edition of the Heart of Europe International Television Festival.

“I believe that there are dozens of stories worth telling that will be attractive to both Polish and Ukrainian viewers. Also those stories in which the fates of Poles and Ukrainians will be intertwined on the screen, just as they are intertwined today at every step in the reality around us. Stories that will also be understandable and attractive to residents of other European countries,” explained Marek Solon-Lipinski, Director of International Cooperation for TVP.

“I see many Ukrainian talents that are full of ideas and projects, but lacks resources and support to fulfill it these days. As Ukraine is going through the fight for democracy and freedom, defending the shared values and common European safety, I think it is a World’ capital of a great stories, that are need to be told right now. Thanks for this initiative, the Ukrainian authors have a chance to spread their ideas in an attempt to create a narratives that would fascinate both countries and a continent. Poles and Ukrainians are destined to understand each other better, and TV series are the best tool for that,” commented Yaroslav Lodygin, accomplished Ukrainian author, director and sreenwriter.

“Organized by Polish Television, the Talents: Ukraine! contest will help enrich the resources of the Polish television sector with a new quality that marks the work of talented authors from Ukraine who have lost the opportunity to function professionally in their own country. We are convinced that our venture will prove to be a valuable area of new content creation not only for TVP, and in the long run will enrich the entire European audiovisual market. Serial projects by Ukrainian creators have already proved themselves more than once in Poland and in many countries in our region,” said Marek Solon-Lipinski.

The Talents: Ukraine! contest will be open to screenplay projects for TV series. To attend the contest, participants will be required to be at least 18 years old and have Ukrainian citizenship The winners of the competition for the best series will be awarded cash prizes. In addition, the winning scripts, selected by the Talents: Ukraine! jury, will be offered for further development and production by Polish Television.

Draft scripts can be submitted to talents.ukraine@tvp.pl by October 7, 2022. Only scripts translated into Polish can be submitted to the competition.

For more details and the conditions of the competition on the website www.heartofeurope.tvp.pl in the " Talents: Ukraine!" section: https://en.heartofeurope.tvp.pl/62743631/konkurs

The Talents: Ukraine! screenwriting competition is being held as part of the 2nd edition of the Heart of Europe International Television Festival. The festival is a review of the work of public broadcasters of Central and Eastern Europe. This year's edition of the festival will be attended by filmmakers and broadcasters from 14 countries: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Georgia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, who are submitting their best productions in 6 categories for the competition.

The program for this year's Heart of Europe festival on November 14-17, 2022 will include a Co-Production Forum - an event for creators, producers, industry experts to establish co-production and commercial cooperation within Central and Eastern Europe. Simultaneously to the call for projects for the Talents: Ukraine! competition, there is an open call for applications for the Co-production Forum, which will include pitching of feature films, feature series and documentaries, at various stages of production.