Famous actor Mykhailo Kukuyuk fulfilled the dream of a son of a fallen defender.
9-year-old Kostiantyn Dashko, a charge of the Children of Heroes Foundation, became the hero of the social project "Make a Dream Come True" by 1+1 media. Together with the Ivan Franko National Theater, the team organized a meeting for him with his idol, theater and film actor and volunteer Mykhailo Kukuyuk, who played Santa Claus in the family comedy "The Guardians of Christmas ." The film will be released in theaters on November 13.
With the start of the full-scale invasion, Vadym Dashko, Kostiantyn's father, joined the Territorial Defense Forces and later the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Unfortunately, on May 29, 2023, he died from a mine-blast injury while defending his country.
The loss shook Kostiantyn and his family. Only later did the boy return to his usual hobby — football — and began to take an interest in contemporary Ukrainian cinema, particularly the work of Mykhailo Kukuyuk. Natalia Solonik, host of the "Closer to the Stars" project on the TET TV channel and mentor to the project, helped him fulfill his dream and meet his idol. She told Kostiantyn about the place where art and history are born — the theater.
"Children are our future. The most important thing today is that we can make them happy in such difficult times. Kostya is a shy boy, but he has big dreams, as his idols are the best footballers in the world and the best actors in Ukraine. I am sure he has a great future ahead of him. The most wonderful feeling in our project is when children see their idols and show genuine emotions," says Natalia.
Kostiantyn was able to go behind the scenes of the theater and see the musical "Sing, Lolo, Sing," written and performed by Mykhailo Kukuyuk.
"Fulfilling the dream of the Hero's child is a great honor for me. It was delightful to meet Kostiantyn. Such things are very inspiring, and now I have something to play with in the future. I believe in a certain magic of words and numbers, and for me, the name Kostiantyn has a certain symbolism and meaning," says Mykhailo.
You can learn more about the realization of this dream in the video on the official pages of 1+1 media on Instagram and Facebook, as well as this Sunday morning, November 9, in the new episode of "Closer to the Stars" on the TET TV channel.
Earlier, Ukrainian director and TV presenter Yevhen Synelnikov met with children whose parents died in the war, who are true fans of travel. You can watch the episode at this link.
