art filmmaker
Marichka Lukianchuk (b. 1997) is a Ukrainian film director, editor, and writer. In 2021, she graduated from the Interdisciplinary Arts program at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands) with the short film Past Future Mountain, shot in the Carpathian Mountains in collaboration with a Hutsul community.
Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Marichka moved from Kyiv to Berlin, where she participated in a residency at the Harun Farocki Institut and a short program at Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. During this period, she created, among other projects, the medium-length film Between Before and After, exploring the psychological and cultural impact of war, and the short performative film "97", reflecting on the uncontrollability of death and love.
Marichka’s films have been screened at international festivals. Working through a mythopoetic cinematic language, she explores the intersections of personal and collective memory within the Ukrainian context. She approaches cinema as a space where different art forms converge — performance, dance, theatre, and poetry.
As an editor, she has collaborated with Costa Compagnie (Kharkiv Calling), Berlin Story Bunker, Goethe-Institut, and Untitled Tbilisi / In the Mountains Festival, among others. Her practice also extends to education and curatorial work.
In April 2026, Marichka returned to Kyiv to continue her artistic practice and contribute to the local cultural scene. She is currently developing the short film NOVYNA, co-directed with Anna Mrachkovska, about a 19th-century peasant confronted with famine and despair, as well as the script for her feature film Birds Sing Underwater, set during the Holodomor.
She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Memory Studies and Public History and co-creating HORA, a curatorial project bringing together artists from Ukraine and the South Caucasus to explore shared histories of colonialism, cultural erasure, and resistance.
Festivals
2026 - Zebra Poetry Film Festival (Berlin)
2026 - Munich New Wave Short Film Festival (Munich)
2025 - Winterfest In the Mountains x Kulturfabrik Moabit (Berlin)
2025 - Seoul International Short Film Festival (Seoul)
2025 - The Video Art & Experimental Film Festival VAEFF (USA, New York)
2025 - Festival Politik I’m Freien Theater (Leipzig, Germany)
2025 - Queer Film Festival Flip The Script (USA)
2025 - The Blue of High Zeniths (Armenia)
2023 - Monologfestival, theatre piece 'Kharkiv Calling' (dramaturg, video-editor) (Germany)
2022 - Carpathian international film festival CMIFF: best short film “Past Future Mountain” (Ukraine)
2022 - Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival (Malta)
2022 - GRRL HAUS CINEMA, Alte Münze (Germany)
2022 - Fusion Festival, Szimpla Kert, Budapest (Hungary)
2021 - HER INTERNATIONAL Film Festival (Ireland)
2021 - Prague International Indie Film Festival (Czech Republic)
2021 - ARFF Paris International Awards (France)
2021 - Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival (Greece)
2021 - L’Age d’Or International Arthouse Film Festival (India)
2020 - ARFF Amsterdam International Awards: best student film of the month and finalist of the year “Spiderweb for Shelter and Hunt” (The Netherlands)
2017 - Molodiya social advertising festival: finalist (Ukraine)
2017 - Another Sight social advertising festival: finalist (Ukraine)
Screenings
2024- Kinoclub Hamburg, How does cinema speak about art
2023 - MUMOK, Vienna, Solidarity Screening by Kyiv Biennale (Austria)
2023 - Silent Green, Harun Farocki Institut, screening and discussion (Germany)
2022 - ACUD Berlin, Human Voyage, Artists at Risk and Goethe Institut (Germany)
2022 - Kapitalks and Goethe Institute, Solidarity Screening by Kyiv Biennale (Slovakia)
2022 - Solidarity Screening by Kyiv Biennale, Riga (Latvia)
2022 - Floating University, Berlin, AR Talks moderated by Giorgi Rodionov (Germany)
2022 - Bauhaus Reuse, Berlin, Charity Screening (Germany)
2022 - Waag Amsterdam, Solidarity Screening by Kyiv Biennale (The Netherlands)
2022 - Biograf Hypnos, Malmö, Solidarity Screening by Kyiv Biennale (Sweden)
2022 - Haus Der Statistik, Berlin (Germany)
2022 - NaiBudeKino, Cinema House, Kyiv (Ukraine)
2021 - Oscar cinema, Gulliver, premiere of “Past Future Mountain” (Ukraine)
2020 - Lumiere cinema, Maastricht, premiere of “Spiderweb for Shelter and Hunt” (The Netherlands)
Exhibitions
2023 - Post Ost Exhibition, 101 Project Space, Berlin, video-installation "Past Future Mountain" (Germany)
2022 - art market in support of Ukraine at Bonnefanten Museum (The Netherlands)
2020 - Mapping the City, Genk, “7 paintings about humans and fire” (Belgium)
2020 - Van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, installation/performance “Heavy Water” (The Netherlands)
2019 - Museum Dr. Guislain, Gent, Senses Present, installation “Black Maria” (Belgium)
2018 - B32, Maastricht, EYESCAPE Exhibition, video art The Un(read)able Book (The Netherlands)
2018 - National Art Museum of Ukraine, Face art-face future: collaborative performance, devoted to an exhibition of Käthe Kollwitz and Ernst Barlach (Ukraine)
Education
2026-... - Kyiv School of Economics, Master in Memory Studies and Public History (Ukraine)
2018-2021 - Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Maastricht. Bachelor in interdisciplinary arts (The Netherlands)
2014-2018 - Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine. Bachelor in advertising and public relations (Ukraine)
Short courses
2026 - Grants for film, music and creative projects, Skvot online course (Ukraine)
2025 - PrepClass Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf , Filmuni Summer School (Germany)
2019 - European Cultural Academy, Venice Biennale Revealed (Italy)
2017 - Kulturnyy Proekt, creative writing (Ukraine)
2017 - Instituto Europeo di Design, Florence, Advanced Graphic Design (Italy)
2016 - Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan, digital illustration (Italy)
Art residencies
2026 - Untitled Residency x RFSL, Tbilisi
2022-2023 - Harun Farocki Institut, Berlin
Interviews and articles
2025 - Ukrainian arthouse filmmaking in immigration, tremBEATSfm
2024 - speaker at the political panel Kultur und Kreativität im Krieg. moderated by Jan-Philip Hein, cafe Kyiv
2024 - Interview for the film in celebration of the 200th birthday of the Maastricht Institute of Arts
2023 - The state of artistic freedom, statement for Free Muse, international non-governmental organization (p.99)
2022 - Filmmaking and collective consciousness against war, statement for Harun Farocki Institut
2022 - Filmmaking in times of war, speech for Around Films Festival ARFF
2022 - 10 questions with Marichka Lukianchuk, Al-Tiba9 Art Magazine
2021 - Past Future Mountain: The Hutsul Mythology, best graduation works from art academies, Metropolis Magazine
Selected filmography
In pre-production - “NOVYNA“, short film - co-writer, co-director, editor
In scriptwriting phase - “Birds Sing Underwater“, feature film - writer, director, editor
2025 - “97“, short film - writer, director, editor
2025 - "MOTANKA. The Art of Resistance", short film, co-director, editor
2024 - “Between Before and After”, middle-length film - director, editor
2022 - “first snow of the second winter”, short film - director, editor, DOP
2022 - “Between Before and After War”, short film - director, editor, DOP
2021 -“ Past Future Mountain”, short film - director, editor, DOP
2020 - “Spiderweb for Shelter and Hunt”, short film - director, editor, DOP
2019 - “Inevit(ability) or I'm not tall enough”, short film - director, editor, DOP
Curatorial practice
2026 - HORA - curatorial project in collaboration with Untitled Tbilisi and In The Mountains, bringing together artists from Ukraine and the South Caucasus to explore shared histories of colonialism, imperial violence, cultural erasure, and resistance. The project engages with questions of memory, embodiment, and trauma through the lens of non-heteronormativity and queer experience.
Educational practice
Film, stop-motion and creativity workshops and courses:
2022-2024 - Germany: NeNa e.V., Theodor-Storm-Schule, Film Arche School (Berlin), Theater der Jungen Welt (Leipzig)
2018-2022 - Ukraine: Detibezseti (Diyaty) studio, Teenagers Club, children’s orphanages
2020 - co-creator of “POISK”— happenings, aimed to unite artists from different disciplines for collaborative artistic search (Ukraine)
2018 - co-creator of “Have an Idea”, project aiming to create collaboration between business and students (Ukraine)
Freelance
2020-... - freelance director, editor, DOP, graphic designer, photographer. Among my collaborations: Costa Compagnie, Goethe Institute, Berlin Story Bunker, Untitled Tbilisi, NeNa e.V., ORAM Refugee (Germany)
2016-2018 - co-founder of advertising agency “Dikie Zhivotnye” (Ukraine)
Internships
2021 - StarLightMedia, STB TV channel, director's assistant (Ukraine)
2018 - Mystetskyi Arsenal, art mediator (Ukraine)
2016 - THINK McCANN Kyiv, advertising agency, creative writer (Ukraine)
2016 - UTC Film Production, researcher (Ukraine)
Languages
Ukrainian - native
English - fluent
German - B2
French, Spanish - A2