About the history of Ukrainian IT: Lyubov Mochalova about the brightest scenes

Lyubov Mochalova

The First Code was created based on interviews with representatives of leading Ukrainian IT companies and will be presented in spring 2023. The film is a time-traveling story: it begins in the 1950s, when Ukrainian engineers created the first computer, and continues to the present day, when the IT sector has become not only a powerful industry but also an important front in the war against Russia.

Founders of EPAM Ukraine, 3DLOOK, ELEKS, Looksery, Techiia holding, Sigma Software Group, SoftServe, NICS, Uklon, Infopulse Ukraine, and representatives of the V. V. Knyazev Institute of Cybernetics have already taken part in the First Code film. М. Glushkov National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, in particular, the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov.

Lyubov Mochalova, thecreative producer of The First Code, spoke about the most striking scenes, the Hollywood level of the Ukrainian film and her emotions during the filming process.

What emotions do you get from watching the episodes of The First Code today?

Today, the cards are so aligned that on the last day of shooting, we are writing the final scene of the film, where the main characters are at the apogee of their success after a long journey. It’s symbolic for the team as well, though we still have many hours of editing, sound mixing, and release to go. 

Arthur Lerman wrote this scene light, beautiful, and ironic. Today, even on the tenth take of the same joke, the whole crew was laughing sincerely – they played this moment so well. 

I truly enjoyed working today, as I do every time with our team. I don’t feel like something is ending, but rather that it’s just beginning. 

What did you like most about the filming? Which moment or interview is most memorable to you? 

My favorite interview is with Oleksiy Skrypnyk, who unfortunately will not see the premiere in the spring of 2023. His wisdom and the light he radiated cannot be forgotten.

And from the game reconstructions, the final scene, for sure. Because the actors who portray the main characters have already become like native characters during the work on the film – you could just see them in the teaser. An extremely charismatic scene. 

And the battle between white and black hackers is a Hollywood-level idea, where two storylines – real and virtual – will intersect in the frame, but I won’t tell you more yet. For this scene, stuntmen were specially hired, and the actors learned martial arts. That’s why the shot turned out spectacularly.

Looking back, given all the difficulties: shooting during the war, blackouts, network problems, would you repeat this path?

There are no duplicates in life and nothing can be repeated. Sometimes I stood behind the scenes and wondered if it was real. Is it possible that what I proposed a year ago is now being implemented on such a large scale? I often thank the universe that this team is bringing the project to life and that they were attracted to it. Because everything works as one bright professional mechanism. 

There has never been and will never be another project like this in the lives of any of us. But there may be others. 

Active installation is ahead. “The First Code is planned to be translated into several languages and made available for streaming on Netflix, Amazon, or Apple TV.

The budget of the film is about eight million hryvnias.

Photo: press service