Alisa Kovalenko is a documentary filmmaker and screenwriter who won the Women In Arts Award. The Resistance 2024 in the Women in Film category.
The Ukrainian Institute together with UN Women in Ukraine announced the winners of the prestigious Women In Arts Award. The Resistance 2024. This award was created to promote the professional growth of women in the field of Ukrainian art and culture, including at the national and international levels. The main objectives are also to overcome gender stereotypes and fight inequality. In light of the ongoing war, since 2023, the awards have taken into account the achievements of the honoured women in the military, volunteer and cultural fields that contribute to Ukraine's victory.
The slogan of this year's award is "Until the storm is over". The winners of the Women in Arts. The Resistance 2024 in various categories were the following outstanding women: Women in the Visual Arts: Kateryna Buchatska; Women in Music: Jamala; Women in the Performing Arts: Oksana Dmitriieva; Women in Cinema: Alisa Kovalenko; Women in Literature: Yaryna Chornohuz; Women in Cultural Management: Olha Honchar; Women in Cultural Journalism, Criticism and Research: Kateryna Yakovlenko. In addition, Kateryna Pryimak, a paramedic, veteran, public activist and head of the Women's Veterans Movement, received a special award for her contribution to the development of Ukrainian culture beyond professional art.
The ceremony also honoured the memory of women artists who gave their lives to bring Ukraine's victory closer, including Viktoriia Amelina, Liubov Panchenko, Olha Pavlenko, Iryna Tsvila, Natalia Kharakoz, Vira Hyrych, Oksana Shvets, Iryna Osadcha, Nadiia Agafonova, Viktoriia Tymoshenko, Yelyzaveta Ochkur and Sonia Amelchykova.
Alisa Kovalenko is a Ukrainian documentary film director whose films have won numerous awards at international film festivals, a member of the European and Ukrainian film academies, and a winner of the Women in Arts. The Resistance" award (film section), which celebrates the achievements of women in the field of culture and art and their contribution to bringing victory closer. She was born on 24 September 1987 in Zaporizhzhia. She studied at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Faculty of Journalism. Then she entered the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Film and Television University, graduating in 2015 with a degree in documentary film directing. In the same year, she graduated from the Andrzej Wajda School (DOC PRO documentary film course) in Warsaw. Her second feature-length documentary Alice in Warland, about the war in eastern Ukraine, had its world premiere in Amsterdam at IDFA 2015, the largest documentary film festival in the world, and won three major awards at festivals in France, Mexico and Morocco. Her third feature documentary, a social drama about the life of a young Kyiv football player, Home Games, had its world premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018 in the UK. The film was presented at about 100 international festivals and won 11 awards. In 2021, Home Games became the first Ukrainian creative documentary to be acquired by Netflix for broadcast in Europe. Since 2019, Alisa Kovalenko has also been a board member of SEMA Ukraine, a non-governmental organisation of women who survived CRSV as a result of Russian aggression in Ukraine. From March to July 2022, Alisa was directly involved in combat operations on the front line in Kyiv and Kharkiv regions as part of a volunteer assault unit of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army and received a bravery award from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade named after Kosh Ataman Ivan Sirko. Her third feature-length documentary, We Will Not Fade Away, had its world premiere at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for the Berlinale Award for Best Documentary. As of January 2023, the film has received 15 awards and honours at international festivals, won the Best Documentary at the VII Golden Dzyga Film Award of the Ukrainian Film Academy, and was selected for the European Film Academy's shortlist for Best European Documentary. Since 2023, he has been working on the documentary projects Front and Traces. Selected filmography:2023 - We Will Not Fade Away - feature-length documentary (Ukraine, France, Poland, USA)2018 - Home Games - feature-length documentary (Ukraine, France, Poland)2015 - Alisa in Warland - feature-length documentary (Poland)2014 - Sister Zo - feature-length documentary (Ukraine)
