fiction feature films
Nastia, 12, and Victor, 38, flee the territories under Russian occupation. Victor's family was killed by Russian soldiers, Nastia's mother disappeared. They pretend to be a family and qualify for municipal housing in a town near Kyiv. There, Nastia starts summer school where her uncontrolled aggression brings her to Maya, 35, a Bosnian psychologist working for UNICEF, who recognizes in Nastia her young self. Nastia's teenage crisis is aggravated by the war experiences. She refuses to eat, brings a gun to school, and falls in love with Victor who sees in her his own killed daughter. Victor can't handle his pain and Nastia's behavior, and Maya, in her attempts to help him, digs up her own old wounds.
Cherry Blossom tells a story of people in post-traumatic stress. Two characters who managed to survive in the Russian-Ukrainian war meet their counterpart form Bosnia, who lived through terrors of the Balkan war as a child. The fresh wounds of the former make the latter's old wounds bleed again, proving that war stays with people forever, but there's still hope for salvation.
PROJECT TEAM
MARYSIA NIKITIUK, scriptwriter
Marysia Nikitiuk is a director, screenwriter, and author. She's been writing screenplays since 2012.
2022, Lucky Girl (Я, НІНА), feature film; writer and director; festival premiere – fall 2022.
2019 HOMEWARD (ДОДОМУ); feature film; directed by Nariman Aliev; co-writer.
Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard Section 2019
2018 WHEN THE TREES FALL (КОЛИ ПАДАЮТЬ ДЕРЕВА), feature film; writer and director;
68th International Berlin Film Festival, Panorama section, Germany , Transilvania IFF, Romania
2016 RABIES (СКАЗ), short film; writer and director; Molodist IFF 2016, National Competition, Ukraine
2014 MANDRAGORA (МАНДРАГОРА), short film; writer and director;
Molodist IFF, National Competition, Ukraine.
SOLOMIIA ILNYTSKA, producer
Film and theatre producer. In 2012–2014, studies at Katowice Art School, Poland. Also in 2014, graduates from Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, Poland, in Film and Television Production Management. Film producer in Directory Films.
2022, HOUSE OF GLASS (СКЛЯНИЙ БУДИНОК), feature film by Taras Dron; production manager (in post-production);
2021, FATHER (ТАТО), feature film by Kyrylo Bin; production manager (in post-production);
2021, IDEA (ІДЕЯ), feature film teaser by Yuliia Myronenko; production manager
2021, THE ZONE (ЗОНА), feature film teaser by Ihor Savychenko;
2021, FORGIVEN (ПРОЩЕНИЙ), short film by Yurii Martashevskyi; creative producer (in promo)
2021, MOM (МАМ), short film by Anna Hnatenko-Shabaldina; creative producer (in promo);
2021, EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE OK (ВСЕ БУДЕ ОК), feature film by Taras Beniuk; co-author, executive producer
2022, PATTERN (ВЗІРУНОК), feature film by Taras Beniuk; executive producer (in post-production).