Please read out our FAQ section to find out more.
Country: Moldova, Republic of
Ksenia Ciuvaseva is a documentary film director from Moldova whose work is devoted to exploring resilience and transformation through film and dance. She is the mentor of the Transformation Film Workshop—a series of workshops for women filmmakers that fosters an international community, Women and I, built on mutual support and peer-to-peer learning. Holding a B.A. in Fine Arts in Film Directing from Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Ksenia's documentaries were screened at international festivals such as Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Palm Springs ShortFest, and DOK.fest München. Beyond festivals, she has also directed films for cultural associations and business organizations. Her debut documentary, Landing, was both a journey into family trauma and a spark for personal transformation, teaching her about the deep connection between personal narrative and the body. She shared this experience in a live performance, I Almost Died Doing My Personal Documentary, which accompanied the film’s premiere at the opening night of the International Documentary Film Festival MOLDOX. Ksenia’s upcoming short documentary, Jamlitz: A Documentary Fairy-Tale (2026), explores the healing of collective German trauma through art and highlights the power of a small village community to reshape its present despite a dark past.
Haunted by the broken family relations and the ghost of an unfinished family house in Moldova, Ksenia—a young film director studying abroad—sets out to make a documentary film about her father in search of closure. But as she delves deeper into her family's past, she uncovers a legacy of transgenerational trauma and her body falls sick. On her four-year-long healing journey, Ksenia discovers the transformative story of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut and experiences the therapeutic power of dance. Both elements guide her to reclaim her sense of agency, move back to Moldova and recover her righteous place. Back in Moldova Ksenia transforms the abandoned family house into a vibrant dance studio, builds a community of like-minded creative women and stages an empowering dance show about female resilience and healing.