Once again, the Wiz-Art Film Festival is partnering with the America House Lviv cultural space to host an editing film residency—an intensive program where directors get the opportunity to finalize their projects under expert mentorship.
This year marks the third edition of the residency. Previous intensives took place in 2023 and 2025, with a total of 25 alumni. You can check out the 2023 program here, and the 2025 films can be found at this link. As a result of both residencies, the directors created successful projects that went on to screen at international film festivals and win awards.
FILM RESIDENCY 2026
Over seven intensive working days, from September 3 to September 9, 9 directors worked tirelessly on their short films. The mentor team consisted of three experienced directors: Valeriya Sochyvets, Zoya Laktionova, and Nikon Romanchenko.
Valeria Sochyvets
Ukrainian producer, director, film curator, and member of the European and Ukrainian Film Academies. She is the founder of the NGO “CUC” (Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema) and has produced over ten films. Her work includes La Palisiada by Philip Sotnychenko, Glass House and Blindfold by Taras Dron, as well as the documentary Zarvanytsia.
Valeria’s projects and her own directed short films regularly participate in and win awards at Class “A” international film festivals (including Rotterdam, San Sebastián, Clermont-Ferrand, Palm Springs, and Sarajevo). She is a recipient of the Gaude Polonia 2026 scholarship, an alumna of Berlinale Talents and Sarajevo Talents, and possesses extensive experience serving on expert committees and film festival juries.
Zoya Laktionova
Documentary film director and multidisciplinary artist from Mariupol. She works at the intersection of cinema and contemporary art, exploring microhistory, autoethnography, and personal experience of war through artistic metaphors in her work.
Her films and art projects have gained international recognition. They have been screened at leading film festivals (DOK Leipzig, FIDMarseille, Cottbus, Docudays UA) as well as exhibited in renowned global museums, including the Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna (MUMOK).
Zoya is the recipient of numerous awards (notably for her films Diorama and Territory of Empty Windows) and a fellow and resident of prestigious international institutions, such as Columbia University (Harriman Institute), the Global Media Makers program in Los Angeles, and the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.
Nikon Romanchenko
Director, screenwriter, and one of the most sought-after Ukrainian film editors. He is a co-founder of the NGO “CUC” (Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema), a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy, and an alumnus of Berlinale Talents.
For his directorial work, Nikon won the “Golden Duke” for Best Director at the Odesa International Film Festival (for his film Leopolis Night) and two “Scythian Deer” awards at the Molodist International Film Festival.
As a film editor, he has worked on landmark Ukrainian films, including Kateryna Gornostai’s Stop-Zemlia (winning the “Golden Dzyga” award for Best Editing and the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale), Roman Bondarchuk’s The Editorial Office, Time Dedicated, and Traces (Grand Prix of the Panorama program at the Berlinale).
FILM RESIDENCY PROGRAM 2026
ROUGH CUT 14′ Oleksandra Horienko, Ukraine 2026
I need to make a graduation film, but I don’t know what troubles me or whether I even have the right to say anything. Who am I to speak? Who am I? This film is a method to remember myself and those close to me before… I am looking for an answer without metaphors, actors, or mandatory constraints.
CATEGORY C E 15′ Alina Shvydko, Ukraine 2026
What prompts a woman, who previously identified only as a wife and mother, to learn to drive a semi-truck and become a long-haul trucker? And what is it like to rebuild your life from scratch at 40 without being afraid to pursue your dream?
BERNATSYI GARDEN 24′ Bohdan Prykhodko, Ukraine 2026
This essay-documentary about a frontline garden is my attempt to grasp the last summer at home before the pressure of war changed the space forever.
PRACTICE 13′ Viktor Shamanov, Ukraine 2026
After a night of shelling, a student named Liliia goes to her internship at the city library. But instead of the usual routine, the library’s host offers her the chance to take part in a strange ritual.
THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY 21′ Sana Shakhmuradova Tanska, Ukraine 2026
Constructing a memory that exists across Odesa, Crimea, and Eastern Podillia. This story is an attempt to return to places where I was not consciously present, and sometimes not even physically.
ZHMERYNKA INFO 26′ Oleksandr Myroniuk, Ukraine 2026
A portrait of Ukrainian public opinion from 2004 to 2014 through the lens of a regional TV channel in Zhmerynka.
SALAŚ 17′ Alem Kent, Ukraine 2026
The world has survived a great catastrophe. The rest of humanity has disappeared, except for children, who are now starting a new life on this planet.
TREASURE SEARCH 13′ Halyna Lavrinets, Ukraine 2026
13-year-old Dmytro lives in a small village, deeply passionate about history and collecting. He sees real treasures in what might seem, at first glance, like ordinary objects.
ONS 12′ Kateryna Paida, Ukraine 2026
In a lonely, cold, wintertime Kyiv, two people meet in search of intimacy, only to find something more—the truth about themselves.
The film residency is supported by America House Lviv.
