Documentary “Meme wars: Folk humor strikes back.”

In the early days of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine experienced a true explosion of memes. Three years later, the All-Ukrainian Association of Music Events approached us with an ambitious task: to create a feature-length documentary about war memes. The film was also intended to deliver Ukraine’s crucial messages to an international audience

01.Challenge

Engaging an international audience. Memes often feel like an “inside joke.” We needed to find universal triggers that would resonate equally in Kyiv, New York, and Berlin.
Finding an original angle. Hundreds of stories have already been made about Ukrainian war memes. We had to take a unique and unconventional approach.
Overcoming extreme challenges. In addition to a tight three-month deadline—half the usual time for such projects—we had to navigate long security clearances and military permits. All of this was further complicated by blackouts and ongoing attacks.

02.Solution

Our deep dive into the subject of memes led us to the research of Professor Laada Bilaniuk from the University of Washington, titled “Memes as Antibodies.” In her work, she demonstrates that memes are not just funny pictures – they are a powerful tool that shapes public opinion and even influences the course of events. This concept became the backbone of our film, with the professor herself as its narrator.

03.Premiere

The film premiered at Kyiv's iconic Zhovten cinema. Laughter, tears, and standing ovations—it was a night to remember.

Afterward,
🔹 1 million TV households
🔹 450,000 views on YouTube (English + Ukrainian versions)
🔹 35+ media mentions — including RFI, Voice of America, and leading Ukrainian outlets

It was also screened at events in Berlin and Prague.

Прем’єра фільму відбулася на урочистому заході до річниці програми єВідновлення, зібравши дотичних урядовців, нардепів, іноземні послів і міжнародних донорів. Багато хто не стримав сліз. Ми вітаємо реалізаторів програми єВідновлення з важливою річницею. І бажаємо всім жертвам російської агресії бути ЗНОВУ ВДОМА.

The film premiered at Kyiv's iconic Zhovten cinema. Laughter, tears, and standing ovations—it was a night to remember.

Afterward, the film was made available on the MEGOGO streaming platform and aired on national TV channels in Ukraine and Latvia, reaching a million viewers.

It was also screened at events in Berlin and Prague.

Dozens of media mentions, including Voice of America, RFI, Liga.net, ICTV, and Ukrainska Pravda. Life.

04.Reviews

@nickkeaton4647
This documentary is more important than any of us realize right now. This is the foundations of the principles of defense against a new type of warfare. All future disinformation campaigns will be resisted based on the principles we’re researching now.
@lifelearner47
Great documentary. Missed out one point though, Ukrainian memes are winning because they have a fantastic sense of humour. Russians don’t seem to have a sense of humour, and certainly can’t do irony, so they’ll never win the meme war. Great that ‘NAFO’ was included, sad that the ‘Florks of Ukraine’ didn’t appear. No nonsense detected.
@RealHotNatured
#NAFO only saves the world! Thank you to creators of this movie for their great work!
@@doodlesvibe1582
Great doc. Support Ukraine. We are NAFO.
@@kimanddanahaagenson5595
How Ukraine has changed the way we communicate, see Russia, feel is possible. Changed the world. Slava Ukraine!!
@marymartin4266
thank you to Rick the Ukrainian, who encouraged his “Rollers” to watch this. I’m glad I did as I learned more about the drive and creativity of the Ukrainian people. Lancaster New York near Buffalo 🇺🇸
@marinakrivko9352
You can study the chronology of the war by memes. In fact, they really helped to change the focus of attention during difficult times. Nice episode!

We needed not just to tell a story through a documentary but to immerse our target audience in the context and convey the depth of the topic.

Our collaboration with Look Up Agency exceeded all expectations. We faced numerous challenges: extremely tight deadlines, securing special permits, and filming in multiple countries simultaneously. But the team handled everything brilliantly! The result is so high-quality that even TV channels are competing for the right to broadcast it.

A huge thank you to the entire team! I look forward to future collaborations and will definitely recommend you to my colleagues.

Olena Shiyan

project curator from NGO Ukrainian Association of Music Events

05.Team

Idea by Oleksandr Sanchenko, Olena Shiyan
Film author and producer Iryna Kabluchko
Directed by Hhrystyna Braslavska Iryna Kabluchko
Information Producer Yevheniia Tsvietanska
Guest Producer Iryna Nedayborshch
Script Advisor Iryna Ustelentseva
Project curator Olena Shiyan
DOP Dmytro Chub
Second Camera: Roman Danyliuk Andrii Kharchenko
Lighting Crew: Maksym Holyk Roman Danyliuk

Seattle episode:
Producer Yulia Clack
DOP Dmytro Savchuk
Second Camera David Lekh

London episode:
DOP Ivan Ermakov
Journalist Natalia Goncharova

Casting director Anastasiya Katolupova
Actors in reenactments: Sofiya Piskun Alina Kovalska Valerii Shcherbakov Mykhailo Bondarenko Mykhailo Tkachenko Yevhen Pashkovskyi Olena Kozakevych Dmytro Kryuchkov Ivan Lapytskyi Myron Shuvalov
Makeup Artists: Yuliya Tsarenko Yuliya Kolbasova Lyudmyla Slavkova Olena Bukova
Administrator/prop assistant: Anna Snitko Isabella Kosynska
Driver Dmytro Shostka
Video editor Vitalii Koshelnyk
VFX Artists: Bohdan Martovskyi Olga Lemishko Ivan Rymarchuk Vyacheslav Nechai-Kuchynskyi Colorist Oleksii Kondratenko
Music Editor Dmytro Mushynskyi
SFX & Mixing Yevhen Lutsenko

Cases

insights, script, postproduction

Strategy Activation for LHH Europe

narrative vision, film production

Documentary for the Ministry for restoration of Ukraine

View all works

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