Film Residency Wiz-Art x AHL 2025

Among the films of the 2023 residency is Storks Always Return Home by Gala Koziutynska. This film won the Ukrainian competition at the Wiz-Art Festival 2023 and, since Wiz-Art is part of the European Short Film Audience Award, it was also nominated for that award, going on tour to 10 European film festivals. It also won at the Molodist Film Festival 2024, and in August 2025 it was screened at the Odense Film Festival in Denmark.

During the 2023 residency, Kateryna Kroha finalized her film How I “Celebrated” Russian Language Day in Kherson. The film was included in the Ukrainian competition at Wiz-Art 2023, as well as at the Rivne International Film Festival Dream City. It was also screened in over 10 cities worldwide: Buffalo, Portland, Nashville, Grand Rapids, Denver, Chicago, Seattle, Portland (USA), Lisbon (Portugal), Tarifa (Spain), Barcelona (Spain). It was nominated for the Audience Award at Wiz-Art 2023.

MOMENT // 14 min, Kseniya Mnykh, Ukraine, 2025
A soldier and a civilian live an ordinary day in a rear city, but their everyday social interaction ends unpredictably.

REHEARSAL // 20 min, Oleksandr Hoysan, Ukraine, 2025
Rehearsal is a documentary observation of firefighters at the Ivano-Frankivsk State Emergency Service. Their work consists of endless repetitions – like a rehearsal with no premiere, only constant readiness to perform movements again and again.

YANA // 7 min, Vladyslava Pokhyla, Ukraine, 2025
After meeting Yana in a school bathroom, Anya goes with her to a party, where she confronts her own reality.

GRAIN // 15 min, Olga Tuharinova, Ukraine, 2025
A cine-essay about the journey of Ukrainian grain through the cycles of history, harvests, and war.

PIETA // 7 min, Olena Hrom, Ukraine, 2025
Pieta tells the story of a mother mourning her deceased son. Through her grief, the image of Ukraine emerges: wounded but unconquered. A story where pain becomes strength, and memory is a weapon against oblivion.

ALICE’S DREAMS // 7 min, Sofiya Yashvili, Ukraine, 2025
A gentle sketch about experiencing loss.

SHE DOESN’T GO HOME // 4 min, Polina Yakovleva, Ukraine, 2025
She feels growing inner tension each day. Yet, she cannot find the cause of her constant anxiety, even as she begins to invent her own life.

MELTEMI // 10 min, Anastasiya Stetsenko, Ukraine, 2025
Traveling alone to a Greek island, the director imagines the story of a couple that never existed – a Ukrainian woman and her husband, whose joint journey became impossible due to the war.

THE FERRY SAILS // 18 min, Zhora Papoyan, Ukraine, 2025
A conductor preparing a small Zališčyky ensemble for a concert with the song Draw Me the Night accompanies fallen soldiers at military funerals. The same ferry that once carried the people of Zališčyky across the Dniester paints one night after another.

FIG // 16 min, Novruz Hikmet, Ukraine, 2025
Baths in the sea, silent dinners, attempts to preserve closeness – these are the last days of a couple at an old summer house by the Caspian shore. Many years later, the man lives alone in the large house next to the same summer house. The fig tree and the sea remain the same. Simple tastes and moments remind us: life goes on, and solitude can be a conscious choice.

FISHERMAN // 14 min, Sashko Roshchyn, Ukraine, 2025
On a hot afternoon, in the shade of trees by the river, as if in the middle of life, something is lost. But love is proportionate to the strength of the river.