Hi Iryna, could you introduce yourself?

I’m from Kharkiv, Ukraine. I started making my first author-driven films during my studies, and filmmaking has been my focus ever since. Between 2020 and now, I’ve created six student films and one professional debut, MisundersHood.

Why did you choose film as your medium? Is it your only artistic outlet or do you have others?

I also work a lot through illustration, but animation has a kind of magic that lets me express what’s on my mind and in my heart with the greatest clarity.

Do you have a philosophy behind your filmmaking? Or do you feel like you belong to a particular artistic movement from the present day or past? Could you tell us about it?

I’m still exploring my own style, and even though I don’t always feel fully confident in every animation technique yet, I do trust my instincts in composition and timing. A big part of my filmmaking philosophy is that a frame should speak on its own, even without movement. I put a lot of meaning into how each shot is constructed, because for me, the arrangement of elements in a frame carries as much emotional weight as the animation itself.

If you could watch one film on a loop forever, what would it be?

Honestly, I already do that haha! Since childhood I could watch Disney’s Dinosaur 🦕(2000) on a loop endlessly. And who knew that one day I would find myself in the same kind of circumstances as the main character: standing still while sparks fall on my head…

Tell us about your film that’s on T-Port. What is it about? How did you choose to tell its story?

It’s a film about who I am and how the beginning of the war changed me. I felt myself collapse into a very vulnerable state and then slowly rebuild. It’s an immersive, sensory journey that invites the audience to experience the world the way highly sensitive people do.