On 12 July, a press conference ‘Non-transparency of the procedure for approving the State Film Agency's selection committee for the State Film Support Council’ was held at Ukraine Crisis Media Center

This approval by the State Film Agency was preceded by the approval of the commission responsible for selecting members of the State Film Support Council. The film community demanded transparent formation of the commission with a publicly controlled draw of lots, but the State Film Agency appointed it in a closed procedure.

 Anastasia Petsenchuk, lawyer-analyst, and head of the educational and cultural direction of the IWI, explained the intricacies of the approval of the commission and what consequences it has for the election of the State Film Support Council.

 The analyst pointed out gaps in the procedure for approving the commission, focusing on the broad and subjective requirements for commission members, which allows the State Film Agency to interpret them at its discretion. In addition, Anastasia Petsenchuk highlighted a possible conflict of interest, as the acting head of the State Film Agency, Yulia Shevchuk, appointed herself to the commission.

 The next step will be a competition for the Council, and the State Film Agency has announced the start of accepting documents from organizations to select members of the Council. This violates the requirements of the Law on State Support of Cinematography, as a new requirement has been added: information about the candidates' activities during the full-scale invasion “aimed at supporting the country and its promotion abroad”. This significantly narrows the list of applicants, as candidates without such activities may not be allowed to participate in the competition.

In order to prevent similar situations in the future, the Institute of Legislative Ideas will continue to develop the necessary legislative changes to improve the competition procedures.