A person with a big heart, incredible managerial talent, a rare ability to sense the world deeply, and a calling to change it for the better. That was our Tetiana Kulyk, coordinator of the Network Development Department of NGO Docudays, who put her whole self into the annual Travelling Festival and the daily work of the Docudays UA Film Club Network. Her life was suddenly cut short on 29 July 2025.

This year’s Travelling Docudays UA is held in loving memory of Tania. Today, we are publishing several memories from those who knew and loved her.

“When you live alongside an extraordinary person, you don’t always realise how special it is, what lessons they give us, and what they do for this world,” says Alla Tiutiunnyk, founder of NGO Docudays and director of the Department for Strategic Development. “Tania had so much love and attention for people. She accepted everything and never asked for more, she only wanted to give herself.”

Over 15 years, Tetiana Kulyk became the soul and heart of the team, while at the same time giving others the opportunity to express themselves and feel their own strength. She wanted people to believe in their ability to do important things, to influence others, and to change the life around them — and she was sincerely happy when they succeeded.

Tania managed to do so much, she had enough energy for everything and everyone. She knew how each of the more than 400 film clubs lived and breathed, who needed what kind of help, and she knew how to support, unite, and become a source of strength, to dispel fears and inspire courage. She did the same for the Travelling Festival and its regional coordinators. One could always turn to her with any problem or for advice. “You need to ask Tania about this,” “Only Tania can help here” — how many times we were rescued by the experience, intelligence, and wisdom of our wonderful colleague!

“She radiated so much optimism, so much love for life, that it seemed Tania would always be there. She loved her work and the people she worked with very much; she was attentive, compassionate, and generous, ready to help at any moment,” says Svitlana Smal, executive director of NGO Docudays. “I remember how, back in occupied Kherson, after sleepless nights when the ruscists were breaking down doors in apartment blocks, raiding flats, and loading Kherson residents into vehicles, Tetiana would spend every day having rehabilitative conversations with our regional coordinators and moderators, cooking meals for frail neighbours from the last remaining ingredients, coordinating the work of film clubs, bringing people together, supporting and inspiring them. Our entire team is infinitely grateful to Tania for her years with Docudays, for the networks she nurtured, for her training and mentoring of new people who joined the team to work with us. The life of Docudays was her life. Tania was a very talented manager and put motherly care for each participant into every event.”

Tetiana’s leadership qualities and organisational talent revealed themselves from her very first days working at the Kherson newspaper Vgoru, from where she later joined Docudays. Her colleagues recall: despite lacking professional experience, Tania immediately began thinking about how to structure the work and make everyone’s life easier as an office manager. Later, she trained as a journalist and was very successful in the field. She could hear, understand, and care for people, and had the ability to see more in everyone. This quality of hers became especially evident when she started working with the networks of DOCU/CLUB and the Travelling Festival.

“It was easy to work with Tania, great to be friends with her; she was always open to communication and support, generously sharing her warmth and jokes. She found the right words for everyone, never refused to help, and always came to the rescue,” recalls Nina Khoma, head of the DOCU/CLUB Network. “Tania was the godmother of the Docudays UA Networks and devotedly nurtured this wonderful community of people. For many, many years to come, we will strive to do things the way Tania did and remember her with warmth, a smile, and sorrow for the loss of such a wonderful person.”

“I hope that we will often think about her role, her attitude towards herself and towards others, and learn from her. Although it is a special gift to treat people the way Tania did, and to unite what seemed impossible to unite. Her whole story is a story about love. And I don’t know a single person who didn’t love her in return,” adds Alla Tiutiunnyk.

For everyone who knew Tetiana as a colleague, professional, mentor, friend, or ally, she will be remembered as someone special, with her own stories and moments. Yet for all, she will remain the same light — a person who radiated so much warmth and served as a guiding light for others. It is impossible to imagine Docudays without her, as she has forever become a part of it.

Hennadii Kofman, director, film producer, journalist, member of the Board of NGO Docudays, and Chair of the Board of NGO Centre for Contemporary Information Technologies and Visual Arts: “The soul of the Travelling Festival and the Film Club Network. The most life-affirming person in the team, who radiated optimism and filled everyone around her with light.”

Mariia Symkovych, coordinator of the Travelling Docudays UA in Zakarpattia, moderator of the Docudays UA Film Club in Uzhhorod, teacher, and methodologist: “Tania was a person who was exceptionally filled with light. Always there, always in touch, always with wise advice. With a wonderful sense of humour, optimism, and inexhaustible life energy. The Travelling Festival has lost a part of its soul. But we will continue to nurture the seed of love for cinema, life, and people that she planted in us.”

Mariia Tsypyashchuk, head of the Docudays UA Film Club in Rivne, lawyer, and human rights advocate: “Throughout the ten years when we knew each other and worked together in the Docudays UA Film Club Network, I never ceased to be amazed by and grateful for Tetiana’s humanity, generosity, and openness. It was as if light poured from within her, and her heart seemed to have enough space for every being in the universe. In her work, there was a minimum of criticism, immense understanding, and constant willingness to support and help.”

Olha Babchuk, communications manager of the DOCU/CLUB Network, journalist: “‘I must be speaking loudly? I don’t know how to be quiet.’ I heard these words from Tania in the corridors of the June conference of film club moderators, which, like many other conferences, schools, and seminars, was organised by our Tania. Bright, loud, unstoppable, and simply inexhaustible in her support and love for people. To talk with such a person is happiness; to work with her is incredible good fortune. Without Tania, the world will become quieter.”

Mariia Sulialina, human rights advocate, head of the Almenda Civic Human Rights Centre: “Tania will be greatly missed in this world. Thank you for having been here. You are light and a source of love and support. May you feel calm and warm in your soul where you are now. See you in another world.”

Olena Stariuk, coordinator of the Travelling Docudays UA in the Kherson Region, lawyer, and head of the Charity and Health Fund’s public reception office: “For me, Tania was the best: genuine, sincere, strong, and filled with light. Her jokes, her support, her advice — all of it was my rock. Our conversations, our dreams about the future… How to go on without all that? I will remember her in every glance at the sky, in every warm ray of sunlight.”

Yaroslava Sheremeta: “We met only a few times, but it felt as if we had known each other all our lives. Tetiana was the kind of person who could plan and control everything so thoroughly that there was not even the slightest chance something would go wrong. That is not just talent, it is love. Love for the team, for the project, for the idea, and for all the people this project brings together. It was impossible not to notice how deeply Tetiana lived for it, how sincerely and devotedly she loved everyone.”

We had to organise the 22nd Travelling Docudays UA without Tania: her heart stopped beating right during a planning meeting where we were preparing the August seminar for regional coordinators.

Every event of this year’s festival is, for us, about remembrance, great love, and boundless gratitude. We lost a special person. But what Tania managed to do for the Docudays team and for many thousands of people across Ukraine will remain. She was one of our most precious and truly rare resources.

We keep her light within us and carry it forward.

Tania’s birthday would have been on 21 November.