Charity Screening of The Stolen Princess Animated Film Took Place with the Participation of Ukrainian First Lady Maryna Poroshenko

On March 13, in Cinema Citi Kyiv over 300 orphans, children devoid of parental care and residents of family-type orphanages in Kyiv and the region, together with Ukrainian first lady Maryna Poroshenko, saw the first Ukrainian animated film from Animagrad studio (FILM.UA Group) The Stolen Princess and met its team.

The young guests of the event were able to get immersed in the magic world of the film thanks to the animators wearing costumes of the main characters: princess Mila, Ruslan, and Hamster Vinnytsky. They prepared fun games and competitions, informative workshops, and also lots of souvenirs and sweet treats for the guests.  

Before the screening, Ukrainian President’s wife Maryna Poroshenko greeted the young audience and delivered the following speech: “This has already become a great tradition when FILM.UA team invites orphans, children with disabilities and residents of family-type orphanages in Kyiv and the region to our charity meeting. During the last two years, this is the third Ukrainian film for children: we have all seen The Dragon Spell cartoon (Panama Grand Prix animation studio), The Stronghold fantasy film, and today another great and kind animated film about love has been added to the collection. I come to our meetings with great pleasure to watch Ukrainian cinema together with you, and it is marvelous that with each new film this becomes more and more popular. I am thankful to the studio’s creative team, which worked on this project. It is imperative for our young Ukrainians to be brought up on Ukrainian-made films because they are based on Ukrainian history, culture, traditions and, no doubt, teach our children to be kind, sensitive, and to help each other. I wish all of you today to remain with positive impressions from the screening and for millions of people to see the cartoon in Ukraine and all over the world.”  

The special guests of the event were TV host Gennadiy Popenko and musician Eduard “Dilya” Prystupa. Other guests of the screening included the cartoon’s director Oleg Malamuzh, producer Egor Olesov, and screenwriter Yaroslav Voytseshek.

“On behalf of the whole team, I thank you for coming to us today to see the cartoon. A big team has worked on it, and I hope you’ll enjoy it and have positive emotions from the viewing. I would like to say that love always overcomes magic, and you’ll see it for yourself in the film. I wish you a cool screening,” Egor Olesov said.  

The children greeted the end credits with a round of applause. Lots of young viewers confessed they would happily rewatch the cartoon several more times, and some of them said that now The Stolen Princess is their favorite cartoon.  

“A cool cartoon! I really liked the battle when Ruslan was fighting, and that huge Head sneezed – and the monsters were just blown off. And it was great when they defeated Chornomor,” said Anton, 12, sharing his impressions.  

“I really loved the cartoon and its characters, but Ruslan most of all! He is very brave, and he fought for Mila so much. And Mila is also very pretty. Actually, I liked both Ruslan and Mila,” said Mia, 11.   

“It was a good cartoon; I liked the hamster most of all. He is so able, too bad he didn’t talk. And the cat is also cool. At first, I couldn’t even understand what kind of animal it was. Everyone is good there, except Chornomor,” said Borys, 13.  

The guests of the charity screening were children cared for by the following organization: Caring About the City charity fund, Come Back Alive international charity fund, Eleos NGO, Children Are Our Future charity fund, Saint Andrew international charity fund, Blagodiy charity organization together with Spaso-Preobrazhenska church community, Center for Labor Rehabilition for Persons with Mental Disabilities in Kyiv (Golosiyiv department),  Golosiyiv branch of social services for family, children and youth in Kyiv, Happy Crumbs of Live for Children with Disabilities NGO, Darnytsky orphanage for girls, boarding school No. 12, and Cerebral NGO.

Organizers of charity screening:   Animagrad animation studio, FILM.UA Group, Ukrainian Film Distribution,  CINEMA CITI chain.

The charity premiere finishes the premiere marathon started before the animated film was released in Ukrainian cinemas. Last week, regional and Kyiv premieres of The Stolen Princess took place. On March 5, two Ukrainian cities hosted a pre-premiere screening of the cartoon: in Kyiv, Ukrainian media were shown it at FILM.UA studio, and in Ternopil, residents visited the screening. On March 7, the screenings took place in Odesa, Lviv, Sumy, and Kharkiv in Planeta Kino cinema chain.

On March 7, an official gala premiere of The Stolen Princess animated film took place; it gathered the project team, partners, celebrities who participated in the dubbing and other well-known figures: vocalists of Vremya i steklo band Nadya Dorofeyeva and Pozitiv, show host Masha Efrosinina, athlete Vasyl Virastyuk, show host and producer Yuriy Gorbunov, TNMK band vocalist Oleg “Fahot” Mykhaylyuta, showman Sergiy Prytula, show host Katya Osadcha, and others.   

On March 8, 9 and 10 there were neighborhood premieres in Kyiv: for Darnytsky district, in Vizor cinema; for Lukyanivsky, in Kyivska Rus; for Obolonsky, in Oscar (Dream Town mall); for Svyatoshynsky, in Multiplex (Lavina Mall); for Dniprovsky, in Multiplex (Prospekt mall); and for Troyeschynsky, in Florentsiya cinema.  

You can follow the news of the project on its official Facebook page, Instagram account, and official website.

About the film. This wonderful story happened in the age of valiant knights, beautiful princesses, and battling sorcerers. Ruslan, a wandering artist dreaming to become a knight, met beautiful Mila and fell in love with her; he didn’t even suspect that she is the King’s daughter. However, the lovers’ happiness wasn’t meant to last too long. Chоrnomor, the evil sorcerer, appeared in a magic vortex and stole Mila right before Ruslan’s eyes to transform her power of love into his own magic power. Without further ado, Ruslan sets out on a chase after the stolen princess to overcome all obstacles and to prove that real love is stronger than magic.

 Producer: Egor Olesov. Director: Oleg Malamuzh. Scriptwriter: Yaroslav Voytseshek. Art-director: Kristian Koskinen.

FYI. The Stolen Princess is the first animated feature film for Ukrainian and international release in the production line of the Animagrad studio. The premiere of the film in Ukraine was March 7, 2018. The rights for its release have been pre-sold to more than 30 territories, including China, South Korea, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, countries of the MENA region and Latin America. The Stolen Princess became the winner of the 9th competitive selection of Ukrainian State Film Agency; the sum of state financing amounts to about 20 percent of the film’s total budget of 95 million UAH.