Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna says the Tysiachovesna-2027 (Thousand Spring) cultural content support initiative will include regulation of AI use, a higher qualifying score for the pitching round, and separate tracks for debut and experienced applicants.
"I think we piloted the program very successfully this year, and we’ll keep improving the things we can improve. We’re going to work on regulating the use of artificial intelligence. That’s very important, because a lot of experts said their eyes were twitching from all the similar-looking presentations, and that actually distracts from identifying talent," Berezhna said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.
She also said the qualifying score for advancing to the final pitching round will be raised next year.
"In practice, a lot of not particularly strong projects made it to the pitching round because the qualifying score was 60 out of 100. If we raise the qualifying score, that could ease the competition in the third round," she added.
In addition, Berezhna said the program plans to refine its expert evaluation framework and introduce a new "Books" category, the format of which is still being worked out.
"One reflection I’ll share from Tysiachovesna is that we put debut and well-known directors on the same commission. We may revisit that approach next year, so that debut filmmakers compete against other debut filmmakers, and experienced ones against experienced ones," Berezhna said at the briefing.
She also said that in 2026, funded projects included work by well-known Ukrainian directors such as Antonio Lukich, Akhtem Seitablaiev, Oles Sanin, Oleg Sentsov, Valentyn Vasianovych, Pavlo Ostrikov, Kateryna Hornostai, Iryna Tsilyk, Nadiya Parfan, Filip Sotnychenko, Taras Tomenko, Arkadiy Nepytaliuk, Maryna Stepanska, Oleksiy Radynski, Nina Kashcheyeva, Anatoliy Lavrenishyn, Oleksandra Ruban, Sashko Danylenko, Zhanna Ozirna and Katya Tsaryk.
"When we wrapped up the pitching round, we discussed with the team that we need an educational track for those who will be applying next year, to make their applications even stronger, and an educational track for those who will actually be implementing projects, so that the finished cultural product is one Ukrainians, who are eagerly waiting for it, will find worthy," Berezhna said.
As reported, the Culture Ministry opened applications on April 3 for the Tysiachovesna initiative (formerly known as "1,000 Hours of Ukrainian Content") to support Ukrainian cultural production. On Aug. 16, it announced 546 winning Tysiachovesna-2026 projects in film, music and art that will receive funding.
In the final pitching round for the "Feature films and series" category, 92 feature-length and short films across various genres won funding, including films about Kharlan, Horska, Virskyi and Illienko, a film about the band Braty Hadiukiny, and the comedy "Vertep v Khatu." In the "Non-fiction (documentary) films and series" category, 70 projects won, including films about the Superhumans project, Symonenko, Yablonska, Kryvtsov, and the killings of Iryna Farion and Georgiy Gongadze. In the "Films for children and animation" category, 30 projects won, including "Skovoroda’s Fables," "The IPSO Squad," and an animated film about the dog Patron. In the "Performative arts" category, 133 projects won, including 20 projects from the Franko, Zankovetska, Lysenko and Lesia Ukrainka theaters and a number of festivals. In the "Contemporary music" category, 144 projects won, including projects for Ziferblat, Carpetman, Artem Pyvovarov, Maryna Krut and Victoria Niro. In the "Visual art" category, 77 projects won, including entries from the Dovzhenko Film Studio, GogolFest, Ukraїner, the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU), and the Odesa Film Studio.
The 2026 state budget allocates UAH 4 billion for the program. Berezhna said up to 80% of that amount, or UAH 3.2 billion, will be disbursed for Tysiachovesna this year, and the government plans to allocate more than UAH 4 billion for the project in the 2027 budget.
Berezhna said the project is planned to be expanded next year to include books and online games, and that book authors and libraries will be able to join the Tysiachovesna program in 2027.
Berezhna also said that in 2027, the Tysiachovesna project may introduce clear restrictions barring artists and performers who cooperated with Russia during the war from participating.
