Kyiv on Screen
Ukraine’s capital is both beautiful and rich in terms of architecture and history. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why over the past few years more and more of the city is featuring in western music videos, commercials for international brands, and other high-quality video content.
One of the most popular Kyiv locations for shooting is the unfinished Podilsko-Voskresenskiy Bridge. The advertising video Go with the Flaw by fashion label Diesel and, as title suggests, featuring unconventional models, featured the bridge prominently. Recently, this clip received three Cannes Lions Awards – for directing, production design, and camera work. In addition, automakers Nissan, Mazda, and oil and gas company Total S.A. also filmed commercials on the bridge. You can see the location in the music video of the French rapper OrelSan – Basique. By the way, the artist made a video for the song Tout va Bien in Kyiv also.
The second significant place for filming Kyiv is the metro. Vydubychi metro station can be seen in the final scene of the Lacoste promo clip – Timeless, The Film. Dorogozhichi and the Zoloti Vorota stations served as sets for advertising Google Pay. The shooting commercial for Apple Watch Series 3 was principally conducted at the Kyiv-Pasazhyrskiy railway station, but also the video features footage from Zoloti Vorota station.
The third lure for producers are post-Soviet houses and factories, which can be found, in particular, in the Troyeschina area. In this area, the Danish artist MO shot a video for the single Kamikaze, and the Foals filmed a video for the song What Went Down. The main set in the clip by Nothing But Thieves – Amsterdam was a tank factory, which is also located in Troyeschina. The group has an affinity for the city and on the left bank of Kyiv, Nothing But Thieves also shot a video for the song Sorry.
Among other artists and brands to have chosen Kyiv as a backdrop are: Twenty One Pilots, Calum Scott, Hurts, Lonely The Brave, Natalie Imbruglia, Years & Years, Tame Impala, Paloma Faith, Avicii, Busy P, BOEF, NCT U, Uniqlo UK, Nike, and Eric Bompard. Our fair city has seen its fair share of architectural love affairs, and it’s not hard to understand why…
