With Nova Ukraine’s support for the second year in a row, Ukrainian nonprofit Chysto.De?!—whose name translates as “Clean.Where?!”—is expanding environmental education and creating new opportunities for Ukrainian eco-cinema.
At this year’s ECO FILM FESTIVAL, organized by Chysto.De?! on August 15–16 at MC6 Creative Residence in Slavske, visitors watched Ukrainian and international environmental documentaries, attended lectures and public discussions, joined hands-on workshops, and explored a market of sustainable local crafts.
Children and teenagers spent the weekend learning the basics of documentary storytelling, filming nature around them, experimenting with stop-motion animation, and presenting their own short films at the closing ceremony.
For Nova Ukraine project manager Yevheniya Chuchko, it was the part of the festival that stayed with her most.
“The work with children made the strongest impression on me,” she says. “Seeing children get involved and develop environmental awareness from such an early age is incredibly valuable.”
Her reflection captures something at the heart of the ECO FILM FESTIVAL: environmental protection not only as a response to damage already done, but as a way of shaping what the next generation will value and choose to care for. The festival invited participants to think about what it means to protect the places we call home.
That idea has been part of Chysto.De?! from the beginning. Long before there was a film festival, there was a polluted reservoir in the Carpathians and a small group of people who decided to do something about it.
It Started With an Eco Picnic in the Ukrainian Carpathians
In October 2020, Roman Zhuk brought his wife, Olena, to the Vilshanske Reservoir in Zakarpattia, a beautiful artificial lake in the Carpathian Mountains known locally as the “Transcarpathian Sea.” What they found there was difficult to ignore. Household waste carried downstream had accumulated along its shores in staggering quantities.
That same year, Roman and Olena invited friends to their first “eco-picnic,” a cleanup organized for Olena’s birthday. The gathering marked the beginning of regular community cleanups. Eventually, the eco-picnics grew into Chysto.De?!, an environmental organization and volunteer community united around a simple slogan: “Clean the Carpathians like your own front yard.” So far, it has held 28 eco-picnics, collected 140 tons of waste, and sent 77 tons for recycling.
“These events were never just about cleanup,” says Kateryna Serdechna, executive director of the Chysto.De?! ECO FILM FESTIVAL. “From the beginning, the eco-picnics had educational and cultural components. It was important that change happen not only at the cleanup site, but also in the surrounding communities, because otherwise the waste would simply travel downstream and accumulate there again. Each time, the team tried to approach the problem in a new way. We invited environmental experts, artists, journalists, local officials, teachers, and even priests; organized performances; made videos; and looked for different ways to engage people and explain the environmental problems we were facing.”
Roman himself was central to that approach. A photographer and videographer, he was often the person behind the camera at Chysto.De?! events, creating the images and stories that inspired others to join in and help care for the land together.
Roman Zhuk’s Legacy
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Roman volunteered to defend Ukraine and joined the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade. On May 26, 2022, at the age of 34, he was killed near Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region, leaving behind his wife, Olena, two young sons, and a community determined to continue the work he had started.
Roman’s vision had already extended far beyond cleanup. He loved the Carpathians where he grew up, took a deep interest in local culture and crafts, and believed that showing people the value of a place could inspire them to become part of protecting it. “Trash introduced me to the best people,” he used to say. Roman dreamed of transforming the area around the reservoir into a protected landscape and a center for environmental education and ecotourism.
On December 15, 2022, part of the shoreline Roman had worked to protect received official status as the “Shore of the Transcarpathian Sea” landscape reserve.
After Roman’s death, a group of teenagers he had briefly worked with on an environmental project sent Olena a music video they created based on Chysto.De’s catchy slogan. Roman had been drawn to cameras and visual storytelling since childhood, and for Olena, seeing the kids express their creativity and activism brought several parts of his vision together. In August 2023, Olena proposed creating a festival that could strengthen Chysto.De’s environmental work while carrying Roman’s ideas forward. The following August, timed around Roman’s birthday, the team held the first ECO FILM FESTIVAL.
“The festival is not just an act of remembrance for Roman,” says Kateryna. “It is a way to continue what he believed in: showing beauty, noticing what matters, telling stories, bringing people together, and through that inspiring them to protect the place they call home.”
Inside the ECO FILM FESTIVAL: Films, Conversations, and Hands-On Learning
Ukrainian premieres included Ashes of the Earth, about the uneasy relationship between agriculture and the land it depends on, and Home at the Edge of the Winds, which looks at how industrial development in the Carpathians affects both people and nature. Bernatsky’s Garden followed residents of Kramatorsk tending a garden as the war closes in around them, while Dmytro Hreshko’s Divia documented the destruction of Ukraine’s natural landscapes caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion. A Greenpeace screening of Gaslit, featuring Jane Fonda’s journey into communities affected by the oil and gas industry, was followed by a discussion with Greenpeace Ukraine.
The conversations continued beyond the screen. Michael van Bürk of Germany’s Green Screen International Wildlife Film Festival spoke about why environmental film festivals matter. Ukrainian conservationists, representatives of GORO Mountain Resort, and members of the public joined a discussion titled “Wildlife Economy: How Can the Carpathians Develop Without Losing Themselves?” Other talks explored plastic-free living, sustainable local crafts, and architecture that responds carefully to the surrounding landscape.
Much of the festival was also hands-on. Children and teenagers explored the language of cinema with film educator Olha Birzul, shot their own environmental documentaries, and experimented with stop-motion animation.
“Phones have become an inseparable part of modern life. We can resist the trend, or we can use it as a valuable tool,” says Kateryna Serdechna. “Children at the festival were incredibly curious and eager to learn how to create videos to share their thoughts, feelings, observations, and sense of wonder with adults. It was a special kind of joy to watch them propose and defend their own filmmaking ideas, and then see their excitement when a film they created was shown on the festival screen.”
Elsewhere, visitors could customize old clothing, make postcards from handmade paper, create decorations from straw, or work with clay. A craft market showcased locally made and reusable alternatives to disposable goods, while the playful “Eco Confessional” invited visitors to write down their environmental “sins” before heading home with a cleaner conscience.
“For Chysto.De?!, the craft program is also part of the environmental work: supporting local makers can help families build livelihoods in their own communities while encouraging a culture of repair, reuse, and more conscious consumption,” says Kateryna.
The festival also aims to strengthen Ukrainian environmental filmmaking. Through the Roman Zhuk Film Award, filmmakers can develop ideas for short environmental documentaries with training, mentorship, and production support of UAH 300,000–500,000 for the winning project. The goal is not only to screen environmental films, but to help more Ukrainian filmmakers create them. The award has so far supported the creation of five environmental documentaries, and three films screened at this year’s festival were created with its support.
How Nova Ukraine Supports Ukrainian Eco-Cinema and Environmental Education
Nova Ukraine sponsored the festival for the second year in a row, helping fund its children’s and arts programming, including five workshops and the two-day filmmaking intensive. The grant also covered eco-craft materials, professional lecturers, the festival headliner, an expert involved in selecting the films, accommodations and meals for the team, and the work of coordinators, hosts, photographers, videographers, and the festival’s operational and communications teams.
Nova Ukraine also funded 20 short educational Reels designed to share environmental knowledge with a wider audience on social media.
This year marked Chysto.De’s third ECO FILM FESTIVAL. The event brought together 350 participants and screened 11 films, including three created with support from the Roman Zhuk Film Award.
Nova Ukraine’s support also helped the festival generate resources for what comes next. Because the organization served as the festival’s main sponsor and helped cover the costs of the event, Chysto.De?! was able to direct 180,650 UAH raised through festival passes toward supporting the creation of new films about nature and its protection.
For the festival organizers, this is an important part of the model: support for one festival does not end when the weekend is over. It helps fund the next environmental stories, partnerships, and projects.
“The first year of cooperation showed us that this festival is not a one-time event, but a systemic initiative with deep values,” says Yevheniya Chuchko. “We saw a high level of trust from visitors and absolute dedication from the team. Building environmental consciousness is a process that requires continuity and sustainability.”
For Yevheniya, that long-term perspective is also connected to Ukraine’s future. “The values we instill in society now will determine what our country will be like after victory.”
Explore more photos from the festival:
https://chystode.gallera.io/eco-film-festival-by-chystode-foto-at-vladamazurs
https://chystode.gallera.io/eco-film-festival-by-chystode-foto-at-zasadnyi
