Mariia Ponomarova

film director

creative producer

film industry professional

Feature

Nice Ladies

The Right Answer

Fiction/documentary/experimental shorts

Three Windows on South West

Good Boy

Family Hour

Ardea

May 9th

I know you

Ice Cream

Commissioned work

Rijksmuseum

Van Gogh Museum

Creative producing

Fragile Memory

The Diaper Cake

Idea/script consulting

Ground Zero

Guests from Kharkiv

Fragile Home VR

Voice-over directing

Rozsypne VR

Otherworlds VR

Bio

Contact

Mariia Ponomarova (1991, Kyiv) is a film director, creative producer and film industry professional permanently based in The Netherlands since 2014.

Mariia studied film directing and screenwriting at Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema & Television in Ukraine graduating cum laude in 2013. Focusing on character development in film during her course, Mariia graduated from the Master of Film artistic research program in 2016 at the Netherlands Film Academy.

Short fiction and documentary films written and directed by Mariia were screened at such festivals as DokLeipzig, Sheffield DocFest, Chicago IFF, Sarajevo FF, Vancouver IFF, VIS Vienna Shorts, Odesa IFF, CineDOC-Tbilisi, Go Short ISFF, Netherlands FF, KISFF, FebioFest and others.

Her fiction feature project 'The Right Answer' was developed as a part of the EAVE workshop and took part in Boost NL programme that included pitching at NFF/Holland Film Meeting and IFFR/CineMart.

Mariia's first documentary feature as a director 'Nice Ladies' was presented, among others, at DokLeipzig Co-Pro Market, Meet Market and received

a B2Bdoc Award at Producers Meet Producers event. Working on this film Mariia took part in IDFAcademy and DokIncubator workshop.

The film had its International premiere at HotDocs, received a Special Mention at DocudaysUA IHRFF and was selected at Krakow FF, Beldocs, One World Prague, Movies that Matter, DokuFest, DokLeipzig, Jeden Svet Slovakia and more, having a successful 6-weeks cinema release in the Netherlands in 2024.

'Fragile Memory' documentary that she produced and co-wrote with Igor Ivanko was selected to multiple international festivals, including IDFA, Sheffield DocFest, DokLeipzig, Krakow Film Festival, Docudays UA, Baltic Sea Docs, Trieste IFF, DokPoint and Sarajevo FF, where it received a Special Jury Prize.

The fiction short film ‘The Diaper Cake’ that Mariia also produced was awarded in Ukraine and selected by international festivals such as Palm Springs Short FilmFest, Short Shorts Asia, Festival REGARD, Interfilm Berlin, Nashville FF, Zagreb FF, Galway Film Fleadh and is available as the Vimeo Staff Pick.

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Mariia is a frequent moderator, project pitch/work-and-progress host, panel guest and case study speaker within the film industry (DocudaysUA IHRFF, Tempo Documentary FF, Millennium Docs Against the Gravity, Eastern Neighbors FF, NFF, East Doc Platform, HERdocs and more).

She is a member of the Ukrainian & European Film Academy, a Project Manager for the CineCoPro Conference at Munich International Film Festival, a part of IDFA Industry Talks team, and a Senior Consultant at the Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) where she co-hosts the Story Room members-based activity for filmmakers' feedback.

She is selected as an Emerging Producer 2025 by Jihlava International Film Festival.

Mariia occasionally helps others to be more at ease on camera, loves rhubarb, collects graphic novels and divides her time between The Netherlands, Ukraine and frequent festival visits throughout the rest of Europe.