Alisa Kovalenko

Alisa Kovalenko (1987) is a Ukrainian award-winning documentary director from Kyiv. She was born and grew up in Zaporizhia, South-Eastern Ukraine and studied documentary cinema at the Karpenko-Kary National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television in Kyiv and at the Andrzej-Wajda School in Warsaw, in the Dok Pro programme. Alisa’s debut feature-length documentary, ALISA IN WARLAND, a personal diary through revolution and war in Ukraine had its world premiere in the First Appearance competition at IDFA 2015 in Amsterdam. HOME GAMES (2018), a social fairy-tale with a sensitive female gaze about the broken dreams of a young professional female football player, appeared at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018 and played again at IDFA Amsterdam, featured in over 100 festivals and multi-awarded. In 2021, HOME GAMES was the first Ukrainian creative documentary ever acquired by Netflix. In 2018, Alisa directed and coordinated a BEAUTIFUL GAME, a 10-parts documentary series commissioned by the Prague-based international broadcaster Current Time TV.
That year, she became a member of the European Film Academy (EFA). After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Alisa left the editing room of WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY and joined a volunteer fighting unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), directly engaged on the front line in the Kyiv and the Kharkiv region. She fought in the trenches for four months before returning to finish WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY, premiered at Berlinale Generation 2023. Meanwhile, as the war in Ukraine continues, Alisa presented a project at the IDFA Forum 2022 based on the footage filmed during her combat time, supported by Chicken & Egg Pictures and Netflix.

“WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY is a tender multi-portrait of the young generation of the Donbas mining region, against the background of war and the decline of this world. It's about how, despite the dullness and depression of the world around them, children can lighten any darkness with the light of their dreams. And, unfortunately, it is also a film about broken dreams that were shattered by Russia's invasion in Ukraine.”