Lesya Kalynska
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Lesya Kalynska is an award-winning film director, screenwriter, and producer. She develops film projects through her production company Pomegranate Studios in New York. Originally from Kyiv, Kalynska earned her MFA in directing and writing from New York University Tisch School of the Arts and received her Ph.D. in Slavic Literatures and Languages in Ukraine.
She found early success in the U.S. with her award-winning short narrative film The Balloonist and produced The Debt directed by Levan Koguashvili, which was an official selection at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals. Kalynska is a recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Production Award (Golden Globes) for her feature length documentary in progress In the Land of the Lost Crusaders, which she directed and co-produced. Lesya also worked in Kyiv as a director of a docuseries Level of Secrecy 18 featuring historic reenactments and unique archival footage to tell the untold stories of World War II. It was released on the widely popular Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 in 2011.
Lesya Kalynska is the writer, co-director and producer of the feature documentary A Rising Fury about the Russia's war against Ukraine that was filmed for nearly 10 years. The World Premiere took place at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022. It was the winner of several awards including the Supreme Jury Award and the Best International Director Award at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. A Rising Fury was screened across four continents in nine prestigious international film festivals. The film is critically acclaimed and was nominated for the Bronze Horse Award at the Stockholm FF, Best Documentary at the Warsaw IFF and the Golden Duke Award at the Odessa IFF. Film Threat Magazine gives the film 10/10 and hails it as "One of the best films of the year". A Rising Fury qualified for the 2024 Academy Awards.
She found early success in the U.S. with her award-winning short narrative film The Balloonist and produced The Debt directed by Levan Koguashvili, which was an official selection at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals. Kalynska is a recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Production Award (Golden Globes) for her feature length documentary in progress In the Land of the Lost Crusaders, which she directed and co-produced. Lesya also worked in Kyiv as a director of a docuseries Level of Secrecy 18 featuring historic reenactments and unique archival footage to tell the untold stories of World War II. It was released on the widely popular Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 in 2011.
Lesya Kalynska is the writer, co-director and producer of the feature documentary A Rising Fury about the Russia's war against Ukraine that was filmed for nearly 10 years. The World Premiere took place at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022. It was the winner of several awards including the Supreme Jury Award and the Best International Director Award at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. A Rising Fury was screened across four continents in nine prestigious international film festivals. The film is critically acclaimed and was nominated for the Bronze Horse Award at the Stockholm FF, Best Documentary at the Warsaw IFF and the Golden Duke Award at the Odessa IFF. Film Threat Magazine gives the film 10/10 and hails it as "One of the best films of the year". A Rising Fury qualified for the 2024 Academy Awards.