Nadia Yaroslavivna Parfan (; born 6 September 1986) is a Ukrainian

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

creative producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In films, ...

who is the co-founder of the 86 film festival, and a member of the

Ukrainian Film Academy The Ukrainian Film Academy () is a Ukraine, Ukrainian association of experts and professionals in the field of Cinematography, cinema and Filmmaking, film production. It was founded in 2017 to support and develop modern Ukrainian cinema. Since 201 ...

Early life and education

Born on 6 September 1986, in the Ukrainian city of

Ivano-Frankivsk Ivano-Frankivsk (, ), formerly Stanyslaviv, Stanislav and Stanisławów, is a city in western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast as well as Ivano-Frankivsk Raion within the oblast. Ivano-Frankivsk also host ...

. She received degrees from

Central European University Central European University (CEU; , ) is a private research university in Vienna. The university offers graduate and undergraduate programs in the social sciences and humanities, which are accredited in Austria and the United States. The univ ...

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy The National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ( NaUKMA, ), colloquially known as Mohylianka (), is a highly ranked national state-sponsored research university located in a historic section of Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is bilingual in U ...

cultural studies Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...

(

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in 2007;

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 2009). She was a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

visiting fellow at

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

in 2012–2013. She completed a DOK PRO documentary film directing course at the Andrzej Wajda Film School in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

in 2015, having been awarded a Gaude Polonia stipend. Later, as part of the Culture Bridges international mobility award, Nadia enrolled at the

National Film and Television School The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2024 ranking by ''The Hollywood Repo ...

(NFTS) in

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

and started an internship at the Nowness platform in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. There, she was recommended to take a quick course called ''Directing the Documentary'', which covered the kind of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

-style documentary that piqued my curiosity.

Career

Nadia served as the assistant director to Jonathon Narducci on the ''Love Me'' documentary produced by Powershot Production in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Beginning in 2014, she transitioned to creating her own films, taking on roles as a writer and director. Her student film, ''Reve ta Stohne on Tour'' (2016), earned special recognition at DocuDays UA IHRFF and was officially selected for the

Warsaw International Film Festival Warsaw Film Festival (; WFF), also known as Warsaw International Film Festival, is an annual international film festival held every October in Warsaw, Poland. The 40th edition of the festival will take place from 11 to 20 October 2024. Histor ...

. Her debut feature, ''Heat Singers'' (2019), premiered in the international competition at

Visions du Réel Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

. The film garnered accolades, including the Best Documentary Film award from the

in 2019 and recognition as the best documentary by the Ukrainian Film Critics Association. In 2023, Nadia would go on to direct the film ''That is my sea'', with Illia Gladshtein as the producer. That same year in March, she pays tribute to the works of

Claude LeLouch Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (; born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, writer, cinematographer, actor and producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1960s. Lelouch gained critical ...

by lensing modern-day Kyiv in the same manner, at a dizzying pace while a vehicle speeds through its streets. ''It's A Date'', a short film she made. The film was a Takflix creation that was chosen for the

2023 Berlinale The 73rd annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale (), took place from 16 to 26 February 2023. It was the first completely in-person Berlinale since 70th Berlin International Film Festival, the 70th in 2020. The fe ...

and earned a Special Mention from the International Short Film Jury, captures the sense of contemporary conflict and the loss of normalcy through visuals displayed on a global scale during

Russia's invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. The

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

website released the short video "''I didn't want to make a film about war''" in 2023.

Other works

The 86 International Festival of Film and Urbanism in

Slavutych Slavutych (, ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, purpose-built for the evacuated personnel of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the 1986 disaster that occurred near the city of Pripyat. Geographically located within Chern ...

, Ukraine, which she co-founded and curates, runs from 2014 to 2019. She launched Takflix.com, an online theater for Ukrainian films, in 2019, and the documentary distribution company 86PROKAT.

Personal life

Nadia and her husband, Ilya Gladshtein, had resided in Kyiv before to the invasion of that country, although they usually spent the winters in

Dahab Dahab (, , "gold") is a small town on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, approximately northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh. Dahab can be divided into three major parts. Masbat, which includes the Bedouin village of Asalah, in the nor ...

, to avoid the city's gloomy and frigid months. It was there in February of last year that they witnessed Russian forces overrunning their nation. She made the decision the next morning to return to Ukraine and record her flight and return. She went alone, first to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, then to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, then to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and the border, after she and Ilya decided she would go and he would stay.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parfan, Nadia Ukrainian women film directors Ukrainian film directors Ukrainian women film producers Ukrainian women anthropologists Living people People from Ivano-Frankivsk 1986 births National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy alumni Central European University alumni Temple University alumni