Today we’d like to introduce you to Kateryna Sazonova.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a Ukrainian filmmaker and environmentalist based in the US, currently residing in Chicago. I started out as a photographer and videographer back in Ukraine in 2013, making my way into film production. In 2017-2018 I got to work on a project at the biggest Eastern European studio FILM.UA in Kyiv. It was an amazing series Spadok about cultural legacy of different regions of Ukraine and I’m very grateful that I got to work on that one!
At that time I was also involved in many European collaborations. For example, through Duemila30 film festival, Italy, and with mentorship of Andre Singer (producer of Wernor Herzog) my team created a social media campaign on refugee help centres in Milan and it was published at Italian Transit Authority resources. Another notable project is Wake Up! – a gender rights social media campaign that I got to create with an international team and with the support of ELDA Academy (Berlin, Germany), it premiered at FemmeInEast exhibition in Odesa, Ukraine.
That is when I made my first two films as well – Plastic, a short on climate change and plastic pollution, and Destiny, a romantic short film set in Kyiv. Both of them are now available to view on my Youtube channel.
In 2019-2020 I got a chance to work for a public TV channel, Offener Kanal Magdeburg for a year. That was the most amazing experience as I got to travel throughout Germany and Europe and covered cultural and educational events, got to meet amazing people and had a strong sense of community and support at the channel. I also got to work on studio broadcast shows, both camera operating and multi-camera directing. Through my work at the channel I took part in a number of filmmaking workshops, including a film camp Kameralne Lato in Radom, Poland, various Camera and Directing masterclasses and got to be a part of participatory media project – youth series Moritzplatz.
My passion for film and film production eventually brought me to Chicago in 2020 where I was accepted into a top MFA program, Film and TV Directing at Columbia College Chicago. There I continued working on my craft and made my next short films – Giving In, a social drama short on addiction, 2839: Coming Home, a sci-fi short on climate change and 200yrs before 2389, a hybrid experimental prequel to 2389: Coming Home. All of them are now in the festival circuit.
Currently I work freelance in the Chicagoland and across the US on feature films, TV series, documentaries, commercials, and corporate video productions. Most recently I associate produced an hour long documentary, a holiday special episode with Geoffrey Baer for WTTW/PBS Chicago and it is premiering on December 23rd, 2024.
Also, I write and develop two drama feature film projects about Ukraine, Homesick and Sunflowers.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
For the past three years my biggest challenge has been the war in my home country, Ukraine. I still deal with all the usual challenges artists deal with, but on top of that there is the constant worry and fear about my country and everyone I know who stays there and lives through the horrors of war firsthand. Compared to this, all other challenges are not that challenging and I really wish to only deal with those.
When the war started, I was about to film my thesis film for the MFA program at Columbia College Chicago and it was very difficult to focus on the film production at that point. It was such a shock for the first several months, and making my film then felt really insignificant and non-important while terrible things were unfolding back home. Luckily all the major elements were already in place and I had a great team behind me so we carried the production out and I was able to graduate.
Nothing much has changed since then as the war is still full scale and no one knows when it will end, and I just try to do what I can to help my country in any way I can. As a filmmaker, I feel that it is my mission to support Ukraine through storytelling. Currently I’m developing two feature films about Ukraine and have several more ideas to develop and I look for creative partners for that currently.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a Ukrainian filmmaker and environmentalist based in the USA. The main topics I explore in my works are environmental issues, climate change, human impact on the planet and ways to live in balance with nature insuring healthy and sustainable life of our species on Earth.
My first documentary short film Plastic (2018) on plastic pollution was screened at over 15 film festivals across the globe, and is now used for educational purposes. My next environmental short film 2389: Coming Home is a fiction sci-fi set in the distant future and is expected to be released in 2025. I also made a documentary hybrid prequel to 2389: Coming Home and it’s called 200 Years Before 2389. It is currently in the festival circuit and will be available online soon.
The three short films together create a series of environmental filmmaking works and can be screened together in a variety of settings, from traditional screenings to art galleries to online screenings and special events and eventually I want them all to be used for educational and inspirational purposes raising awareness on climate change and inspire action.
I’m also developing 2389: Coming Home into a limited sci-fi TV show and am looking for writing collaborators interested in environmental storytelling. It is my primary focus and what I’m best known for and what I will continue throughout my filmmaking career.
On the other hand, for the past three years, I also started developing and writing projects about Ukraine. As a Ukrainian filmmaker and artist, I think it is my responsibility and mission to carry on the Ukrainian legacy, to preserve and add to our national culture and spread word about it around the world. Currently I’m developing two feature film scripts about Ukraine, Homesick and Sunflowers. Also, I’m developing epic historical TV shows about the Ukrainian history and am looking for creative collaborators to help me write those.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
The pandemic time was a quite good time for me actually. I was in Germany at the start, then in Ukraine for a while and then I came to Chicago in the end of 2020. Really, it was a rather relaxing year when I could take time for myself, reflect on my goals, do things I didn’t have time for before. I’d say I used the extra free time productively. For the rest of the pandemic I think everyone was already well adjusted to the changes and it was rather easy.
Of course there were things I missed out on because of the restrictions. For example, the first year of my studies at Columbia College Chicago was almost fully remote, and I didn’t get the benefits of getting to know and work with my peers in person for a while. I was making several student films at the time and had very limited crew numbers and other limitations because of the restrictions. But overall, that was still a great experience because of learning to navigate those restrictions while still getting the work done is pretty much the skill needed in real life as well. I believe it made us all stronger and more flexible, and also realise what things are really important while stop placing importance into things that don’t matter.
The biggest lesson for me was probably that I learnt about myself I was very adaptable and could function efficiently in different circumstances and still meet my goals and continue self-development and my artistic work and be productive.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/ksazonovafilm
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ksazonovafilm/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ksazonova-film/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KSazonovaFilm
