Kira Takhirovna Kovalenko | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Russian |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 2014–present |
Notable work | Sofichka (film)Unclenching the Fists | ,
Awards | Cannes Un Certain Regard (2021), Russian Guild of Film Critics (2022) |
Kira Takhirovna Kovalenko (Russian: Кира Тахировна Коваленко, born 12 December 1989) is a Russian film director and screenwriter.
After school, Kovalenko went to college and graduated in web-design.[1] In 2010-2015 she studied at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University under Alexander Sokurov. Directors Kantemir Balagov, Alexander Zolotukhin and Vladimir Bitokov were her fellow students.[2][3][4] During studies, Kovalenko directed several short movies.[5][6]
After graduation, Kovalenko lived in Abkhazia, then in St Petersburg and Moscow. Her feature-length debut Sofichka (film) was based on Fazil Iskander's novel of the same name and was released in 2016.[7] The movie was included in the competition program of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival[8] and was awarded at the XV International Debut Film Festival ‘Fire Spirit’ in Khanty-Mansiysk.[9]
Kovalenko's second movie Unclenching the Fists was filmed in North Ossetia in only 25 days.[10][11][12][13] The movie took the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard in 2021 and received a distribution offer by Mubi streaming service.[14][15][16]
Kovalenko and fellow dissident filmmaker Kantemir Balagov were chosen as Telluride Film Festival guest directors in September 2022.[17]
In November 2022, Kovalenko announced her new project under a working title 'Children of hope'. The script is co-authored with Russian writer Marina Stepnova, Alexander Rodnyanskiy's studio AR Content will produce the project.[18]