The winners of the 2023 MIPDOC Project Pitch announced this week at MIPTV are Diana Maria Olsson and Egor Olesov of Ukraine’s United Heroes Group – for their pitch Let Me Go Home.

Following a widespread call for entries, five finalists were selected by a jury of decision-makers from the factual business to present in Cannes on Monday in a session moderated by ITV Studios SVP, Global Content Non-Scripted, Cecilie Olsen. “The fact that MIPDOC allows for all voices big and small, from different backgrounds, to be heard in front of an international audience of buyers and platforms, is a fantastic fit for us.”

Jury member Kristina Hollstein of ZDF Studios, said the Pitch has proved itself to be a highly relevant addition to the market “that gives projects international visibility”.

Let Me Go Home won out against a strong field in the MIPDOC Pitch competition. The project focuses on a lesser-known atrocity being perpetuated in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine: the deportation of Ukrainian children and their relocation to new families in Russian-controlled territory, where their names are changed and they are forcibly indoctrinated with a new, “Russian” identity.

As Olesov and Olsson explained in their presentation, the film will focus on seven families who have been subjected to this enforced separation, including a few who have managed to reunite with their stolen children against all odds. In addition, with exclusive access to their subjects, the filmmakers also explained that they would be employing animated sequences to recreate the children’s experiences of separation, and their impossible journeys home.