One of the best-known documentary producers working today, Monica Hellström has produced or co-produced over 20 films, including such hits as The Distant Barking of Dogs, Flee and A House Made of Splinters (two of them filmed in Ukraine). Hellström was nominated for two Academy Awards in 2022 in the categories Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary Feature, for the documentary film Flee. She was also awarded the Ib Award by the Danish Board of Film Directors in 2022.
During her case study at Docudays UA Monica Hellström will discuss her work on A House Made of Splinters, her approaches to producing this highly acclaimed film, and her experience organising an Oscar campaign.
Speaker: Monica Hellström
Monica Hellström is a three-time Oscar nominee for producing Flee (nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best Animated Feature 2022) and A House Made of Splinters (nominated for Best Documentary Feature 2023). She’s amember of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was selected for Producer on the Move, Cannes 2020. She started her company Ström Pictures in May 2022, and before that she was a producer at Final Cut for Real for twelve years from 2010. She previously worked at Upfront Films and the Danish Film Institute's Film Workshop. She graduated from the EAVE Producer Workshop in 2010, holds an MA in film from the University of Copenhagen (DK) and a BA in film from the University of Bedfordshire (UK).
Moderator: Darya Bassel
Darya Bassel used to work in TV and commercial production. In 2011, she joined Docudays UA IHRDFF, where she worked as a programmer and later as head of the industry platform. She started her career as a producer in 2013. She has participated in the Eurodoc, Producers Network (Marche du film 2020), Ex Oriente and EAVE, and also served as a jury member at festivals such as Visions du reel, IDFA, Cinedoc Tbilisi, Astra, OIFF, One World Prague and Krakow IFF. Among her producer’s titles: Outside (dir. Olha Zhurba), which had its world premiere at CPH:DOX and was screened at more than 20 film festival around the globe; Butterfly’s Vision (dir. Maksym Nakonechnyi), premiered at Cannes 2022 in Un Certain Regard. She is also a co-producer on Oscar-nominated award-winning documentary A House Made of Splinters (dir. Simon Lereng Wilmont).
