Tell us a bit about your organization and what your specialty is in the film and video space.

HOLYWATER is an AI-first tech company reshaping entertainment by pairing creators’ imagination with AI efficiency. Founded by Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov, the company operates a diversified ecosystem of content platforms, including:

–My Drama, the #1 vertical streaming app among American and European companies, delivering cinematic short-form series to global audiences; My Passion, the #1 independent digital book publishing platform among American and European companies; and My Muse, a leading platform for vertical series produced with the support of generative AI.

–With My Drama, HOLYWATER is reimagining entertainment — delivering high-quality, fast-paced vertical video series directly to viewers’ phones. In 2025, My Drama received the Webby Award for Best Streaming Service and the W3 Silver Award for Best App in Entertainment. With My Muse, HOLYWATER taps into the future of content creation, producing high-quality AI-generated titles.

–As part of its mission to unlock creators’ potential through AI, HOLYWATER partnered with Ukrainian director and music video maker Illya Dutsyk to create an AI-generated short film. HOLYWATER provided the technology, tools, and production support, while the filmmaking team brought the creative vision and unique story to life. Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov served as executive producers on the project.

What is your organization’s ethos and how does it set you apart from industry competitors?

Our core values are brought forward by the Hofstra 100 Strategic Plan: Belonging, Community, Creativity, Discovery, and Integrity. Hofstra 100 bridges Hofstra’s first century of excellence to the student-centric, technology-forward needs of the next era. This plan will propel the University to its centennial milestone. The future calls for a new model of student success, and Hofstra is ready to rise to the challenge. The University aims to be a national leader in interdisciplinary education, designing a curriculum that crosses invisible lines within the institution and communities Hofstra serves to provide an education centered around career readiness for the workforce needs of the future.

What is your organization’s ethos and how does it set you apart from industry competitors?

We believe great stories are everywhere—but access to production, marketing, and global distribution often isn’t. Our ethos is to make creativity truly accessible. By using AI, smart tools, and data-driven insights, we remove friction so that filmmakers, authors, and writers can make a living from their craft and reach audiences worldwide.

What sets us apart is our AI-first entertainment network that connects creation to distribution end-to-end. Across our ecosystem—spanning books, vertical streaming, and AI-generated series—we run a closed loop of user insight, data, and marketing automation. This allows us to quickly understand what stories resonate most with audiences and to focus our creative energy on the ones we truly believe in.

How can people join or learn more about what you do?

To learn more please visit our website.
For content partnerships for My Drama, please reach out to the Business Development team: partnerships@my-drama.com
For special projects, any questions related to the film, please reach out to PR team: press@holywater.tech

Tell us about your Telly Award winning piece. What’s the story behind it?

Distance Between Two Points of Me is a poetic, deeply moving story and real story. It’s based on a text by Natalia Serebriakova, who reflects on the search for belonging and the journey of reconnecting with one’s true self. Throughout the film, we hear an address to “her” — the protagonist’s sister, who serves as both a moral compass and a symbolic presence.

The film contemplates what it means to lose a home—not only metaphorically, but physically, as many Ukrainians have. It gently walks through the emotional distance between presence and absence, grief and gratitude, showing how memory and hope help us stay connected to who we are.

Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov: “The film explores two profound ideas that, in essence, speak about the same thing — the search for home and the realization of oneself as part of a greater whole.
The first idea is about the home that lives within each of us. It’s not a physical place but a state of being — the feeling we all long to return to. As Maya Angelou wrote: “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

We live with a quiet sense that somewhere there is a true home, and we spend our lives trying to remember where it is. In the film, this idea unfolds through the journey of the protagonist, who physically leaves her country but is, in truth, searching for something much deeper — an inner point of return.

The second idea is more subtle. At one point, the heroine stares into emptiness and realizes that this emptiness — is herself.

“And from you, only a small, fragile creature remains — suspended in a vacuum of nothingness. And that nothingness is you.”

To me, this speaks about the awareness of complete unity with everything — the understanding that we are all one, inseparable, infinite. “Home” is the place we will all return to one day, and “nothingness” is the deepest and most boundless form of being.”

What are you most proud of about this piece? What was your biggest challenge during production and how did you solve it?

No matter how a film is created — through traditional production or AI visualization — it’s the core story that truly matters. Cameras, lights, and generative AI are all just tools; without a grounded narrative, no video can really move its audience. And our short film proves just that.

Our biggest challenge was finding a strong story and a director capable of bringing it to life — and doing so almost instantly. We were fortunate to collaborate with Illya Dutsyk, a Ukrainian filmmaker and creative risk-taker, who embraced the challenge of telling a deeply emotional story through an AI lens. He insisted on crafting a unique visual style and producing an original soundtrack that would make people feel something.

HOLYWATER provided the technology, AI tools, and production support, while Illya and his team infused the project with artistic direction and emotion. Ukrainian artist and producer BADWOR7H composed the film’s soundtrack, adding another layer of intensity to the storytelling.
The result spoke for itself: we received dozens of heartfelt messages from viewers around the world who said the story made them cry, reflect, or rediscover something within themselves. The film received 2 Gold Telly Awards, and earned recognition from 10+ international film festivals, including Runway AIFF(2025).

Though the film was animated and visualized through AI, its story and sound are purely — and profoundly — human.

Can you share a behind the scenes story or fun fact about the making of your piece?

Bogdan Nesvit: “One of the coolest behind-the-scenes moments was how we created the film’s soundtrack and voiceover. At one point, we realized the story needed a leading voice — someone to carry its emotional tone. We initially considered hiring a professional actress, but then decided to audition our team member, Vladyslava Shevchenko, a Content Operations Manager at HOLYWATER. We felt her voice had the perfect timbre for the story.

And it turned out to be the right call — her voice completely reimagined the tone of the film. This project, in many ways, is also about unlocking people’s creative potential, and Vlada’s story reflects that. She had once dreamed of becoming a voice actress, and this film gave her that chance.

Another great detail is that the soundtrack was composed by the talented Ukrainian music producer BADWOR7TH. The music and sound design played a crucial role in bringing emotional depth to our AI-generated short.”

Complete this sentence: ‘Great video storytelling is…’

… the art of making people feel something real — no matter what tools you use, camera or AI. It’s about evoking emotion that stays with the viewer long after the screen fades to black.