Why is Osadcha cooler than Blanchett?

Socialite Kateryna Osadcha, who, according to some politicians, “is not to be trifled with,” and famous showman Yurii Horbunov were revealed to millions of TV viewers in absolutely new and previously unfamiliar images of caring and loving parents. It happened thanks to the project The Voice Kids which had phenomenal success on TV channel 1+1. However, we talked not only about the children’s talent show with our star guests. What are Osadcha and Horbunov like in real life? Under what conditions would they agree to be the hosts of political talk shows and why aren’t there quality historical projects on television? On this and the rest in the exclusive interview to The Day, which the pair of the star “voices” performed for us in a duo.

The Voice Kids made quite some repercussions. As the star coaches confessed, the participants helped them open up in a new way. What did these kids teach you?

Yurii HORBUNOV: “These kids taught us self-assurance, self-control, and confidence in self. When you told them to calm down, everything will be okay, they did calm down, walked on the stage and made the best of it. Unfortunately, adults know some moments in life when you cannot be trustful, and that is why they sometimes give up too early. But the children do trust ultimately, and they realize this faith. This was particularly true not only of the final programs, but of their first appearances on stage, when they waited for the star coach to turn around in their chair.”

Kateryna OSADCHA: “Children teach us frankness. Adults, and first of all public people like the project’s coaches and us, the hosts, are used to wear a certain image before the cameras. But children are something quite different. They were absolutely sincere. It is this sincerity and unbiasedness that we learned from them in the months we worked together.”

“THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE VOICE KIDS ARE THE FUTURE OF UKRAINE’S SHOW BIZ”

Ukraine’s national TV channels have quite a few talent shows. Is the demand for such content indeed so great in our society today?

Yu.H.: “It seems to me that our ratings show a demand for children’s shows. People are typically more interested in preliminary auditions than in live broadcasts. That is why the figures for live broadcasts are traditionally lower. Meanwhile, in our program the share was 20 percent from the very first issue, and so it kept till the final. 20-plus percent for a children’s talent show in a country rent by war is quite an achievement. The country had been waiting for such an optimistic and life-celebrating product.”

K.O.: “Besides the high ratings, there was also a real response. I think that it is children’s talent shows that the time is ripe for right now. When you see a talented child on the screen, who sings beautifully, who believes in his or her victory, it catches your breath. You know, I am convinced that the participants of The Voice Kids are the future of Ukraine’s show biz. Just like Tina Karol said in the project, if we have such voices, we needn’t worry about the future of the country. By the way, besides an incredible voice, each participant has quite an adult story to tell. At this young age they have already been through some stresses and life trials. For instance, there were kids from the east of Ukraine. And you see kids take life-shaping, adult decisions, and you fill with faith in the future. This is what is vital for us today.”

KATERYNA OSADCHA: “A POLITICAL TALK SHOW IS NOT MY STORY”

We are now talking topics which should be filmed carefully. How should we show glam life on TV without provoking aggression in society?

K.O.: “Life itself suggests correct options. In all the 10 years of project High Life, we have always strived to stay tuned to the actual developments. We were always in the context of the events in the country. Honest, we never made the program as outsiders. Today the social and political aspect is becoming bigger. Now there are no spectacular high-society events, and for a clear reason. We are raising other burning issues. Everything depends on the perspective. For example, we are now showing more of the parliament, we are discovering new cabinet ministers to the public. Today our country is waging a war, and it naturally generates a lot of topics. At the same time, there are hardly any TV interviews with ministers. People have absolutely no clue as to who is running the country. Recently we interviewed Natalia Jaresko, the minister of finance. We have recorded an interview with Minister of Youth and Sports Ihor Zhdanov, and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius. High Life is only high in the name today.”

Yu.H.: “Sometimes you read in papers or social networks that showing high-society life today is a sort of feast in time of plague. This is exactly what Putin aims for. Normal pensions and social projects are for ‘after the war.’ Cultural development (movies, theater, exhibits) are for ‘after the war.’ The rating of The Voice Kids showed that Ukrainians strive for peace, confidence, beauty, and kindness today, not some time later.”

Kateryna, you have appeared quite a lot in the parliament of late. Is this where the high life is to be found now?

K.O.: “We visit the parliament at least once a month. But what we film there is not the decisions passed by the MPs. We concentrate on burning issues, like the financial crisis (whether you can see on the MPs that the nation has tightened its belts), mobilization (which MPs have sent their children to the front line), and so on, and so forth. Even though there are now new faces in the parliament, they still are out of touch with the people. We ask, for example, how MPs survive on 6,000 hryvnias per month. They should never stay out of the journalists’ sight.”

Wouldn’t you like to change your specialty and host political or socio-political talk shows?

Yu.H.: “It seems to me that there is nothing easier than hosting a political talk show. The only thing to do is to confront Shufrych and Liashko and say ‘tally-ho!’ You only need to control the degree of tension and the duration of commercial breaks. Our political shows are a fight of two extremes. The only thing that the host has to do is to pour some oil in the fire. I think I would agree to hosting one. But is it timely for the country? This is another question. It seems to me that our country will find peace and happiness exactly when the people stop watching political talk shows, or at least stop taking them seriously. The better a country lives, the less it is interested in politics.”

K.O.: “Well, my situation is unique. High Life is just the format which allows to collect everything and anything. We talk about movies, theater, political backstage, and what not. I am never bored. I      feel absolutely at ease in this format. I love working with children and in High Life. Political talk shows are not my story. In reality, they are just a tiny cross section of everything that is going on in the country. Moreover, each channel has its own talk show hosts. So, let them do what they are doing.”

Maybe these talk shows should be re-arranged, their style should be altered, and their agendas updated?

K.O.: “As long as our politicians lust for publicity, nothing will change, no matter which format you suggest. So far politicians want to play to the gallery.”

Yu.H.: “Paradoxically, the nation does not know the names of those politicians who write laws, for they keep a low profile and are busy working. We know those who scuffle or are rude to traffic cops. This is not even self-promotion, this is sheer scandal. Once in Amsterdam our friends pointed to a famous local politician who was passing by on his bicycle. I said that even if our politicians switched to bikes, they only would bike from one Range Rover to another, for publicity. This is their mentality.”

Do you agree that television is partly responsible for this? We know the populists, while those who work on serious legislation remain obscure. The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna asked once why philosopher Serhii Krymsky is much less known than Hanna Herman.

Yu.H.: “Krymsky will always be part of Ukrainian history, while Herman won’t be remembered by our children, I hope.”

K.O.: “In High Life we reveal new faces each time we come to the Verkhovna Rada. We are trying to avoid advertising the well-known individuals, instead, we discover unfamiliar politicians.”

Are they new, indeed?

Yu.H.: “Yes, but the ‘old ones’ are actively ‘infecting’ them.”

OUR READERS. KATERYNA OSADCHA CONFESSED SHE HAS ALMOST THE ENTIRE DEN’S LIBRARY, WHILE YURII HORBUNOV EXPLAINED WHAT MAKES THE POWER OF THE SOFT SIGN STRONG / Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day

K.O.: “Confronting the established system is very hard, so far. At the first session of the Rada changes were in the air. Even then Boiko in the parliament looked like Don Corleone. Bodyguards, suite, all this barbarity… And how he moves around the Rada. Boiko and his ilk used to be the majority, around 300 out of 450 MPs. Now they are in minority: the communists are gone, and regionnaires are fewer. The old generation of politicians should be no longer interested in positions. This could only happen when they become ‘touchables,’ when they have no leverage for protecting their businesses. And also, when they are forced at last to get down to law-making. I think, something will change after two or three elections.”

“THERE IS CONSIDERABLE DEMAND FOR THE DOMESTIC PRODUCT”

Yu.H.: “Osadcha won’t tell about herself, but I will. One of the popular glossy magazines boasted of their interview with Cate Blanchett. To any suggestion of interviewing our own stars, they reply: ‘Well, domestic stars…’ But when Osadcha appeared on the cover instead of Blanchett, the sales grew twice. Our people are curious to know how Katia lives when she takes off her crown (laughs).”

Does this stem from our inability to see and support the quality domestic product?

Yu.H.: “It stems from our inferiority. Ukrainians have always had it, and never tried to conceal. First you have to become famous somewhere abroad, before you win recognition at home. You have to become Roman Viktiuk in Russia to hear ‘Oh, he is our countryman from Lviv.’ A good example in this respect is set by Poles. They are nationalistic in the good sense of the word: they will never see a movie if it is not dubbed in Polish. Brad Pitt has to speak Polish, too.”

K.O.: “By the way, back to The Voice Kids live: you saw that 80 percent of the songs were Ukrainian. This is our future. This is how we want to see television.”

In the early 1990s there was also a surge of interest in all things Ukrainian, also on TV. And then it all vanished into thin air. Won’t this negative trend repeat itself?

K.O.: “Now a very high price has been paid. Our independence was a windfall, I mean the post-Soviet period.”

Yu.H.: “Today at any event, no matter what the audience is, if someone cries ‘Glory to Ukraine!’ from the stage, the public respond with ‘Glory to heroes!’ And there is not a single insincere voice to hear. This has become a sort of salutation. Before, if someone would call ‘Glory to Ukraine,’ you would always hear someone grumble, ‘Oh no, here we go again…’”

Speaking of domestic TV content. Channel 1+1 is soon releasing a new comedy Ostannii moskal (“The Last Muscovite”) starring you, Yurii. Where do you think lies the boundary between humor and insult?

Yu.H.: “This boundary is set by the instincts of script writers, directors, and other people involved in the making of a film. Just remember Louis de Funes’ films, which suggest that all cops in France are retards. They are people without any logic or any sense of reality. How could France survive with such police at all? You have to understand that if there is a comedy about railroad workers, they will be mocked, if there is a comedy about medical doctors, they will be mocked too; if there is a comedy about Hutsuls, they will also be seen from a certain perspective. The same with moskali [derogatory term for Russians, Muscovites. – Ed.] Today there are countless jokes about a moskal in the Carpathians. Judging from the viewers’ reaction to the announcements, the series will be a success. This is an ever-present theme. And our series is one of the versions of adapting those jokes, spread over 16 episodes. It raises not the issues of moskali and Ukrainians, but rather those of personal relations: between parents and children, lovers, and neighbors. I would call it a social series.”

How do you see the future of series production in Ukraine?

Yu.H.: “There is demand for domestic product, and we are planning a lot of joint projects with Poles and East European neighbors. The more authentic films we make, the less we will be addicted to series featuring Russian cops and military. And the sooner our children will be getting a correct upbringing.”

K.O.: “The future is promising. Take Turkey: we realized overnight that the country got its own Hollywood. Because Turkish stars have become known in Ukraine, we often visit premiere shows and interviews with actors, I have been to the Turkish television. Turkey has a very decent level of film and television production. Roxolana became the first world-known precedent. But it took very long to build this film industry. Ukraine is also moving in that direction.”

Yu.H.: “Turks succeeded because they were making films for the domestic audiences, while ours were oriented on the Russian market. If this product needs to be sold there and make profits, it has to star Russians.”

O.K.: “We have a smaller country and less money, we cannot make films like Russians do, unfortunately. Meanwhile, Russians would come to us, film cheap, and show it to us. But this is how it used to be. Now is the golden time for Ukraine’s cinematography. Let’s hope that there will be investments in film production. Here in Ukraine, where we have so many great actors. Just look at the graduates of the Karpenko-Kary Institute.”

2+2 is releasing the series National Guard. How much do we need films promoting Ukrainian military and increasing the prestige of the Army?

K.O.: “We need them very badly. Films about the army and about history in general. Over the past decade Russians have made incredibly many historical movies, and they interpreted history as they saw it fit. This is sheer propaganda, only not in the form of news reports. Take The Match, for instance. And this TV and movie propaganda has been working for a long time now.”

Yu.H.: “Yes, they perverted our history long ago. They even have discarded the concept of Kyivan Rus’ and introduced some Ancient Russian State instead.”

K.O.: “Russians were brought up on quality series and historical blockbusters. The state poured big money in such projects. Now our neighbors have deep-rooted great-power chauvinism. When the USSR collapsed, there was no ‘great Russia’ yet, it was indoctrinated over the next 24 years.”

“WHAT DEN/THE DAY HAS BEEN DOING ALL THESE 18 YEARS WILL BEAR FRUIT ONLY NOW”

That is why we in Den/The Day have long been engaged in history themes. For example, we have announced 2015 the year of Yaroslav the Wise. But so far, there has been no support from other media.

K.O.: “Your historical projects are very interesting. But it takes time. What Den/The Day has been doing all these 18 years will bear fruit only now. Yurii comes from western Ukraine, I come from the center, and as a child I hardly ever heard ‘Glory to Ukraine!’ We sort of shared the same country, but we were very different. This resembles what Mikheil Saakashvili told me in an interview: ‘I united the Georgians with one idea of reforming and the faith in the better.’ And they succeeded. However, Georgians have long taken pride in their nation. Now the young generation often even cannot speak Russian.”

Yu.H.: “I think everything should be based on language, this is the shield of the entire state. If we didn’t have the Russian language, we wouldn’t have seen ‘little green men’ here. This is about people’s self-identification. As a matter of fact, we are living in a very interesting historic period. Our children will remember it as one of the most complicated ones, when Ukrainians at last identified themselves as a nation. We should bring more historical projects to the screens, in particular, those telling success stories.”

Will historical projects be popular with viewers? Which formats could prove the most interesting?

Yu.H.: “Of course, the presentation has to be up to date. We are living in the 21st century, but Yaroslav the Wise and Prince Sviatoslav must also be topical for us. The war is usurping all history, and now one might think that ancient history is not so topical. But this day is as good as any.”

K.O.: “There is no nation without history. What children are given at school is very dry. I remember that as a child I often went with my dad to Volodymyr’s Hill, and he would tell me of the baptism of Rus’, that it happened in Kyiv, and of Lybid, and of the Khazars, and how the wooden idol was rolled down Borychiv Tik Street, and how it was dumped in the Dnipro, and it was all so visual. Now I tell all these stories to my son. I am grateful to my son’s school teachers for holding history quests: they present everything from a modern perspective.”