Interview with the mentors of the Cultural Platform: Illya Dutsyk

The current future does not seem to be an openness to change, but primarily a fate.

We continue our series of conversations about the positive transformations of youth in the community with Illya Dutsyk, a video director/artist and conscious citizen. A conversation about public activism, freedom of reflection, and creativity that grows out of love and hate in times of uncertainty.

As a mentor, Illya joined the Cultural Platform Zakarpattya NGO in Chernihiv in June 2023 during the terrorist attacks on the city’s civilian infrastructure.

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The motivation for public activism involves recognizing the need to invest time and skills to accelerate social change. In Illya’s case, the motivation stemmed from an understanding of the context of his interaction with small-town youth who lack contemporary knowledge about the competencies that could boost the formation of a new generation of public activists in Ukraine. Under these circumstances, the future seems completely different. We are talking about a new structure for connecting the future, the present, and the past, which began with the decentralizing processes. After the extension of the powers of central authorities to the local level, the key element of this process was to involve young specialists who could spread knowledge about new competencies and professions in the small communities all over the country.

“I know this well because I was there myself and I understand what it’s like when the whole world is limited to your community, where dreams are timid and not yet formed. I wanted my workshops to be a gateway for communities to a world where reflection, modernity, and creative expression are the norm. To me, this must be an exchange. I provide one reality, young people—another, and through interaction we find meaning.”

Illya’s interaction with young people in the search for meanings has already taken place in Chernihiv, Poltava, Kremenchuk, Kryvyi Rih, and communities in Mykolaiv, Poltava, and Odesa regions. In 2023, he held about 30 events for young people, and in 2024—17 events as a part of the Spilno Camp. Communities project.

According to the Cabinet of Ministers’ order approving the Concept of the State Targeted Social Program “Youth of Ukraine” for 2021-2025, one of the program priorities is to develop the ability to express and logically justify one’s own opinion, the ability to manage emotions, make decisions, and solve problems constructively. As part of the NGO’s work with the youth, working with the tools provided by the creative economy allows us to form young independent thinkers who can process their own emotions through various forms of art.

As a mentor, Illya Dutsyk focuses his activism with the youth on sharing the insight that creative activity helps to deal with any hardships.

“I am extremely interested in the context of the country’s life, people, and their concerns. I am especially worried about the adult concerns of children. When I hear that 13-year-olds are thinking about existentialism, death, and the search for the humane, I can’t get my head around it. This is not what I was thinking about when I was the same age, so I want to give them the tools of working with these senses, thoughts, realities”,  the director notes. ”My motivation is to broaden their worldview. When young people realize that the world is big, interesting, and needs to be explored, I begin to blossom.”

According to the Decree of the President of Ukraine “On the National Youth Strategy until 2030,” it is necessary to promote creative industries among young people to ensure their involvement in public life and to increase their independence, competitiveness, and public competence. In this context, filmmaking offers several future-relevant occupations and develops skills in thoughtful reflection on the content that people consume.

“I’m not into telling the same story over and over again. Usually, I work with the age group of 14–24. Among them, there are those who don’t understand anything about visual art, those who are already filming, and those who don’t want to understand but simply want to act. And a million more variations. I currently have about 10 different presentations to choose from according to the needs of the audience and each community,” notes Illya Dutsyk. ”They range from imaginative thinking topics, such as looking at natural phenomena (volcanoes and rivers), listening to music, and superimposing images, to how a film set works and how a director can write and reflect. But my favorite practice is when we look deeper into the things we like. There are two ways. One is the way of love when you like something. But this is the hard one because you need to know and understand yourself well. The other is the path of hate, where we ask what annoys us, what we dislike, what we hate. After defining the topic, we begin to reflect and look for ways to bring it to life.

For example:

Kaniv, our third 3-hour workshop. A boy who hardly spoke. I asked him: what makes you angry, what do you hate?

— I am angry that there is constant screaming, fighting, and more screaming at home, — he whispered in my ear with a trembling voice. 

— How do you feel about that? 

— Fragile!

— Let’s think about what we can do about it. 

He turned on the projector and found a fire, took a cookie, and started crumbling it into the silhouette against the flame. We filmed it.

When all the works in the workshop are filmed, we watch them all together. At this moment, everyone supports each other. Then, as if all his fears had vanished, Artem presented his short film and began talking to the people around him. I’ve never seen such a quick shift in someone brought on by reflective creation.”

These video artifacts, created by young people as part of a filmmaking module, were based on the path of hate and have already become part of the exhibition at the Ukrainian House, revealing the importance of capturing the current mental state of Ukrainian youth. The path of young people from uncertainty to mental resilience—from a visual metaphor of fragility to an exhibition that has been visited by over 3,000 people.

Blitz interview:

— What do you think others need to know about public activism? How could more people get involved in building a conscious and active society of the future?

It nourishes and fulfills me. I can see, feel, and interact with the youth. It is incomparable to anything else. Especially when you see the results for the first time. You are a human being—you create behavioral changes.

— Do you have any global dreams? Maybe in the context of this activity, maybe — within the country or globally?

I have a personal dream—cinema. 

I have a local dream—to revive Ukrainian cinema and the education system. 

I also have a global dream—to be one of those who promote a responsible attitude to creation in the world. 

— What can you say about Ukrainian youth? (You can describe it with 5 adjectives, phrases or more comprehensively)

Injured, intense, creative, in love, passionate, confident, inspiring. 

— What else would you like to say?

I want to say that everything is possible. Absolutely everything 🙂

Thank you.

Anastasiia Mishustina, Yevhen Zabarylo

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