art filmmaker
Bio
Marichka Lukianchuk was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, in 1997. Between 2014-2018 she studied advertising and PR at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and ran her own advertising agency, focusing on video and graphic design and aiming to work with educational, cultural and social projects. After the decision to not separate her life anymore and follow an art path, she moved to the Netherlands and studied Interdisciplinary Arts at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences. In 2021, she graduated with her short film “Past Future Mountain”, shot in the Carpathian Mountains, Ukraine, together with the local ethnic group Gutsuls.
After the start of the full-scale war of russia against Ukraine, she moved from Kyiv to Berlin, where she held an art residency at Harun Farocki Institut (2022-2023) and is currently finishing work on her middle-length film about the war in Ukraine “Between Before and After”.
Her short films are shown at international film festivals and screenings. She directs, writes scripts and edits her films, and combines her artistic practice with teaching art film and stop motion to youth.
Artist's statement
Coming from an artistic background, I position myself as an art filmmaker. I developed my filmmaking practice from my artistic vision, which influenced my working process and approaches: treating each frame as painting, editing as poetry, combining interdisciplinary approaches and seeing filmmaking as a ground for unity of arts – working with performative aspects, theatricality, dance, music, poetry.
I aim to create complex integral worlds in which each element – frame, word, sound, set design – belongs to it; worlds in which reality and dreams, inner and outer, conscious and subconscious, personal and collective co-live and intervene, being inseparable. I achieve layered narratives, which can be perceived on different levels, through working with symbolism and archetypal stories, diving into historical, cultural, psychological contexts. I believe not in ideas, but in intentions, and see my artistic process as uncovering and bringing them throughout the projects.
I use poetic and mythopoetic language to reach the audience and speak about social issues, individual and group experiences and human paths. Big roles in my practice play ethnic cultures and their integration in the current times not as a passive heritage, but as an active co-existing entity. Important aspects of my work are Ukrainian identity, history and culture.
Festivals
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
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 (short film Past Future Mountain) (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)
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
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
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
2022-2023 - Harun Farocki Institut, Berlin
Interviews and articles
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
2023 - “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
Educational practice, teaching
2023 - stop-motion workshop with NeNa e.V. (Germany)
2023 - Theodor-Storm-Schule, leading Kreativ-AG (art lessons) (Germany)
2022 - Film Arche School, Berlin, stop motion workshop (Germany)
2022 - Theater der Jungen Welt, Leipzig, filmmaking workshop (Germany)
2022 - Detibezseti (Diyaty) studio for children, art film course (Ukraine)
2020 - co-creator of “POISK”— happenings, aimed to unite artists from different disciplines for collaborative artistic search (Ukraine)
2018 - Teenagers Club, art and creativity workshop (Ukraine)
2018 - Children’s orphanages, art and creativity workshops (Ukraine)
2018 - co-creator of “Have an Idea”, project aiming to create collaboration between business and students (Ukraine)
Other work experience
2020-2023 - freelance director, DOP, editor, graphic designer, photographer
2023 - production/night manager ACUD Club, Berlin
2016-2018 - co-founder of advertising agency “Dikie Zhivotnye”
Internships
2021 - StarLightMedia, STB TV channel, director's assistant (Ukraine)
2018 - Mystetskyi Arsenal art museum, 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
Spanish - B1