Ukraine’s Kateryna Vyshnevska is set to receive the very first Honorary TV Beats Producer Award at Tallinn. But she’s not planning to slow down anytime soon, teasing upcoming shows “Moloch” and “A Girl from Tallinn.”
Set in the contemporary world of high politics and secret service intrigue in Central Europe, “Moloch” is produced by Bionaut (Czech Republic), Raketa (Slovakia) and Ukraine’s Film.UA. A political thriller “inspired by the realpolitik of today,” it opens with an attempted assassination of Czech president, echoing recent attacks on Trump and Slovak PM Robert Fico, she says.
“It’s an alternative universe, similar to that of ‘Tehran’ on Apple TV+. Moloch was this ancient, all-devouring god and it’s a metaphor for politics, which grinds through everything, requiring victims and sacrifices. We filmed in Ukraine, which was amazing. Putin is crazy, so you never know if he won’t be suddenly dropping missiles on Kyiv. But it’s such a positive thing for our industry when people can get some work.”
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Premiering on Canal+ in 2025, “Moloch” marks Vyshnevska’s first independent project after she stepped away from her role as head of development and co-productions at Film.UA. She’s behind anthology series “Those Who Stayed,” “Hide and Seek” and “Citizens at War,” optioned by Keshet for English-language remake.
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“Partyzanky,” a co-production between the U.K. and Ukraine, and crime story “A Girl from Tallinn” are also in the works, the latter marking a collaboration between Estonia, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
“My life’s mission is to elevate CEE storytelling. That’s what my work has always been about,” she says.
“A Girl from Tallinn’ will appeal to genre fans, but it also brings together the past and the present. In our region, the past is never truly gone. We have this bloody heritage of communism and it just sticks to you, even if you haven’t lived through it yourself. It’s ingrained in people’s psyche. We are still looking for some financing but with some luck, we will go into production in 2025.”
It’s a good time for CEE shows, argues Vyshnevska, even despite ongoing political turmoil.
“People are scared and confused, but I am optimistic. Things will get made,” she says.
“It’s a good time, but it has taken a while to reach a level where we’re seen as a global player. The issue with the CEE region was that we’re a bunch of small countries. Nobody could sustain the production of premium dramas. If you look at other [non-English] successes, from Scandi noir to Turkish telenovelas or Israeli political thrillers, it’s all about volume. We are finally getting there, too.”
“There are enough good shows, the levels of creativity have gone up and the crews are experienced. It has finally become a business, but it has taken 10 or 15 years of local producers trying to make shows that weren’t just daytime medical soaps.”
According to Vyshnevska, “no co-production happens randomly.”
“When you see success, it feels like it came easy. But behind every single show that has managed to travel outside of Ukraine, there are years of hard work.”
In order to grow, creators and producers need to think about the audience. “Unless you are Scorsese, but it takes time to get to that point. And yet people keep on forgetting about it!”
They also need to think about themselves. “I’ve learnt this lesson the hard way, but if you don’t pay attention to your mental health, it doesn’t make you a better producer and a better collaborator. It makes you a worse producer and a worse collaborator,” she stresses, opening up about her own burnout.
“After that, I didn’t work for a couple of months. And yet looking back at 2024, I still went to 12 different festivals. Over the years, I’ve been told: ‘You’re the face of Ukraine, you’re everywhere.’ This is the danger of what we do, and we have to learn to balance it out. We need to talk about burnout, because what we do is relationship-based. Creativity is not just about the script. In order to be creative, you need to get in the right headspace.”
With the Ukrainian Content Club, a fund aiming to sustain the industry impacted by Russian invasion, still existing as “an overall brand” – “It has served its immediate function of getting some stories made. Now, it’s also a way for Ukrainian players to collaborate” – Vyshnevska has Ukraine on her mind – even despite her international ambitions.
“When I left Film.UA, I thought: ‘I can tell all sorts of stories that don’t necessarily need to be about Ukraine.’ Then I realized that maybe I can’t. Projects I’m working on now still have this Ukrainian component. But they will be much bigger.”
