Principles of the Contest

The Great Family All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation
•    acting in accordance with current Ukrainian legislation and the foundation’s by-laws;
•    making its contribution to the realization of programs of national cultural development;
•    aiding in granting the widest possible access of all strata of the population to Taras Shevchenko’s creative heritage;
•    considering the bicentennial of Taras Shevchenko’s birth an event of exceptional nationwide importance;
•    supporting the decrees of the President of Ukraine and the instructions issued by the Cabinet of Ministers concerning the efforts aimed at preparing the commemoration of the bicentennial of Taras Shevchenko’s birth, and expressing its readiness to cooperate with all state institutions and non-governmental organizations to reach this goal;
•    appreciating the importance of Taras Shevchenko’s philosophical, literary, and artistic legacy;
•    seeking to encourage a turn to the figure of Taras Shevchenko and his creative legacy in Ukrainian art, with the goal of developing Ukrainian culture and social thought in a European and global context;
•    aiming to create a full-length feature film that would be contemporary in its cinematic language, a film that would be based on an original dramatic plot treatment, a film that would present the figure of Taras Shevchenko, an artist of true genius and a founder of the modern project of Ukraine, in an impressive, artistically accomplished fashionannounces a film projects contest dedicated to the bicentennial of Taras Shevchenko’s birth

The foundational principles of the Contest are as follows:
1.    The Contest is international in nature. Both Ukrainian citizens and citizens of other countries can take part in it.
2.    The Contest is open. Anyone can take part in the Contest, regardless of age, professional background, or other limitations.
3.    The Contest is independent. The Great Family Foundation invites respected filmmakers, writers, and scholars, as well as representatives of civic organizations and other charitable foundations to cooperate in running the contest. Representatives of the State Cinema Agency of Ukraine and the National Filmmakers Union of Ukraine, as well as other interested state agencies and organization are invited to participate in the Contest as observers.
4.    The Contest is public. 
•    Each stage of the Contest takes place publicly; 
•    the Rules and Conditions of the Contest are printed and promoted in mass media outlets, including abroad; •    the course of events of the Contest is to be broadly covered in mass media, including foreign media; •    mass media is invited to all public events within the framework of the Contest
5.    The contest consists of two stages. Stage one: a contest of script summaries (treatments); based on its results, a jury of professionals selects three best story treatments to take part in the second stage of the Contest. The authors (be they individuals or groups) of the three best story treatments which go on to take part in the second stage of the contest will be offered contracts on property rights regarding their future scripts, with the copyright being retained by the authors. Each of the three authors (be they individuals or groups) will receive for the preparation to the second stage of the contest a stipend in the amount of US $1500. Stage two: a contest of scripts and film projects, which will culminate in their public defense (pitching) in front of a broadly representative civic jury. Should all three film projects defend themselves successfully at the pitching, the prize purse of the Contest, which amounts to US $25000, will be divided among the winners. Additional awards and recognition from partners of our Contest are possible as well.
6.    The Great Family Foundation retains the right, together with other interested persons and organizations, to formulate the principles of financing the production of the future film and the degree of its participation in the production.
7.    During the production of the film the Great Family Foundation controls this process following the principles determined by it based on mutual agreement with other interested parties.
8.    During production and after its completion the Great Family Foundation conducts an appropriate publicity campaign aimed at popularizing the film both within Ukraine and beyond its borders.
9.    The Great Family Foundation retains the right to determine, together with other interested persons and organizations, the principles of the film’s distribution both in Ukraine and abroad.The Great Family Foundation wishes success to all the contest participants and hopes that the running of this contest will aid in realizing the planned goals; among these goals, the most important one is providing for the all-Ukrainian launch of the film in the movie theater network and the film’s world premiere on the eve of the great date of 9 March 2014.