Fifteen leading French cultural figures, including filmmaker Jacques Audiard (The Sisters Brothers, Emilia Pérez), writer Maylis de Kerangal, and heads of major cultural centres and publishing houses, visited Kyiv in late May.
The delegation’s visit was organised in cooperation between the Ukrainian Institute and the French Institute in Ukraine, and followed the Season of Ukraine in France, which ran throughout the winter and spring of 2025–2026.
Following a series of meetings, the parties signed a Manifesto aimed at strengthening the connections already established and deepening cooperation. The document outlines four key areas of work:
- creating a network of shared spaces capable of responding to emergencies;
- structuring professional exchanges and training programmes to help cultural professionals jointly address changes brought about by cultural, social and climate-related challenges;
- continuing artistic collaborations through regular programmes between institutions that promote artist mobility between the two countries;
- strengthening European integration through cooperation with partner states.
The signatories are currently working on a schedule of joint events. Among the planned initiatives is a project within the framework of the Bourges 2028 – European Capital of Culture programme.
The Manifesto was signed by 25 representatives of Ukrainian and French institutions. Among the signatories are Eva Nguyen Binh, Corinne Poulin, Olesya Ostrovska-Lyuta and Volodymyr Sheyko. Representatives of cultural institutions in Rennes, Lyon, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris, Dnipro, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv and other cities also joined the initiative.
The Season of Ukraine in France ran from December 2025 to March 2026 and became one of the largest cultural events in Franco-Ukrainian relations in recent decades.
The programme spanned a wide range of sectors, including literature, cinema, music, digital art, cultural heritage, photography and the performing arts.
Key events of the Season of Ukraine in France included:
- The official opening at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, attended by Olena Zelenska, Juliette Binoche, as well as French and Ukrainian artists and intellectuals;
- The first retrospective of films by Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko ever held in France, hosted by the French Cinematheque;
- A meeting between the French and Ukrainian ministers of culture on the protection and reconstruction of cultural heritage, with the participation of the ALIPH Foundation;
- Composer Valentyn Sylvestrov being awarded an honorary doctorate by Paris 8 University, where he received a symbolic gift — a replica of Chopin’s hand created by Auguste Rodin;
- Cooperation between twin cities and regions, including Lille and Kharkiv, Toulouse and Kyiv, as well as the Hauts-de-France region and Dnipropetrovsk Region;
- Discussions at the Théâtre de la Concorde in Paris with human rights defenders and advocates of international justice, including Oleksandra Matviichuk and Maksym Butkevych, as well as journalists Rémy Ourdan and Maryse Burgot.