Mediabaza Cherkasy hosted a screening of Displaced Childhood, a Suspilne Cherkasy documentary about a large family displaced by the war and now living in Cherkasy oblast. Journalism, Advertising, and PR students attended and spoke with the film’s creative team afterward. The discussion examined how filmmakers can represent children’s experiences without directing their emotions or taking their story out of their hands.
What happened at the screening
The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) reported that its regional hub, Mediabaza Cherkasy, hosted the screening. The attendees were students from the Journalism, Advertising, and PR Department at Khmelnytskyi National University of Cherkasy, using the university and department names as rendered in IMI’s English-language report. After the film, students spoke with members of the creative team.
IMI describes Mediabazas as regional hubs supporting independent media professionals. The organization reported opening hubs in Cherkasy and Khmelnytskyi in December 2024. Its wider network overview describes resources and training for journalists across a network that began in fall 2022. IMI’s report on the two hub openings and its overview of the network provide that background.
How the filmmakers approached the children’s story
Building trust before filming
Producer Olena Banina said the crew made several trips to meet the family. On the first, introductory visit, editor Anastasia Kashoyid and cameraman and director Maksym Tkachenko got to know the family and learn about the children’s interests. Banina said that time together helped the children feel less afraid of the camera and become more open during filming. She described the approach as “genuine interest in the family, in the children, in how they were feeling, in what they cared about.”
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Letting the children speak in their own words
Kashoyid said the team began with a script but changed it to reflect the family’s real lives. The intention, she said, was to give the children room to tell their own story rather than guide them toward a predetermined emotional account. “We didn’t steer them with prompts like, ‘Tell us how hard it was for you,’ or, ‘Tell us what made you cry the most,’” she said.
Preparing for sensitive conversations
Kashoyid said the team consulted a psychologist before production to prepare for sensitive conversations and the difficult emotions they might raise. She also said the family was told in advance that the subject matter would be sensitive. These are the filmmakers’ accounts of their preparation, as reported by IMI.
How visual choices conveyed a child’s perspective
Tkachenko said he wanted the camerawork to show events through the children’s eyes. One example discussed at the screening was a child comparing the sound of Shahed drones to enormous flies. The team reinforced that comparison visually in the edit, connecting a child’s own image for a frightening sound with the film’s storytelling.
Tkachenko also said the filmmakers chose warm, bright colours to make the images feel expansive and sunlit, like childhood memories. “Even though the topic is difficult, we wanted to make the picture as ‘wide spanning’ and sunlit as possible, like childhood memories,” he said. These choices were described by the director as part of the film’s approach, not as a claim that the experience of displacement itself is simple or uniformly remembered.
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Is a sequel planned?
Students asked whether the story might continue in another film. The team said the family had offered an idea: they had recently welcomed a son, Matviy. Kashoyid said the filmmakers would like to see him growing up in Ivankiv community and felt there was more of the family’s story to tell as they rebuilt their lives after moving to Cherkasy oblast. She presented a future film as a hope; IMI’s report does not confirm that a sequel is in production or scheduled.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is established about the film’s availability
IMI’s 8 October 2026 report covers a screening and the discussion with the creative team. It does not state that Displaced Childhood is available to buy or stream, so the event should not be taken as confirmation of a public release. The report also does not provide a screening attendance figure.
Read IMI’s account of the Mediabaza Cherkasy screening.
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