Her Seat Is Vacant from Bohdana Smyrnova on Vimeo.
(17 min, 35mm, drama, Ukraine/USA, 2010)
Vira, a forty-year-old Ukrainian immigrant in New York, is preparing for her sister’s funeral. Amongst all her responsibilities, Vira suddenly finds herself falling in love…
Writer/director, executive producer: Bohdana Smyrnova
Producer: Mollye Asher, Irakli Tskhadadze
Director of Photography: Michael Rossetti
Editor: Sarah-Rose Meredith
Sound: Mike Wood
Principal Cast: Halyna Gebura, Andriy Milavsky, Olga Shuhan
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Festivals:
2014, August – Shorts in Shorts Film Festival (Brooklyn, NY, USA)
2012, September – Gogolfest (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2012, July – Takes Short Film Festival (Aukland, New Zealand)
2012, April – Sarasota Film Festival (Sarasota, FL, USA)
2011, December – IFF Etiuda&Anima (Krakow, Poland)
2011, November – Cottbus IFF (Cottbus, Germany)
2011, August – Kannsk Film Festival (Russia)
2011, July – River Film Festival (Padova, Italy)
2011, July – Trypilske Kolo (Ukraine)
2011, June – Lubuskie lato filmowe (Zielona Góra, Poland)
2011, May – Brussels International Short Film Festival (Brussels, Belgium)
2011, March – REGARD au Saguenay (Chicoutimi, QC, Canada)
2011, March – Wisconsin Film Festival (Madison, WI, USA)
2010, November – Brief Encounters Film Festival (Bristol, UK)
2010, November – ISFVF Beijing (Beijing, China)
2010, October – Molodist IFF (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2010, October – ‘Ternopilska Lypa’ (Ternopil’, Ukraine)
2010, August – ‘Kinolev’ (Lviv, Ukraine)
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Awards and Nominations:
2013, April – Take Two Film Festival (New York, NY, USA), Manny Award
2012, April – First Run Film Festival (New York, NY), – Wasserman Award Nomination, Faculty Commendations for Cinematography; for Acting Ensemble; for Producing.
2011, February – Magnolia Film Festival (Starkville, MS), Ron Tibbet Award For Excellence in Film
2010, November – ‘Start’ Film Festival (Baku, Azerbaijan) prize ‘Best Fiction Film’
2010, July – ‘Vidkryta Nich’ Film Festival (Kyiv, Ukraine), prize ‘For Best Direction’.
Other screenings:
2015, Izolyatsiya Platform for Cultural Initiatives (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2015, Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY, USA)
2014, September – Videology’s Local Filmmaker Showcase (Brooklyn, NY, USA)
2012, July – ‘Hostynna Respublika’ screening (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2011, October – Lab Kombinat (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2011, October – Ukrainian National House(Chernivtsi, Ukraine)
2011, May – Eurochannel TV(USA)
2011, May – Cannes Short Film Corner (Cannes, France)
2011, February – European Film Market (Berlinale IFF, Berlin, Germany)
2010, Decmber – ‘Cinema Unseen’ at the Performance Project (New York, USA)
2010, November – ArtPole screening (Lublin, Poland)
2010, June – ‘Plan B’ fundraising event (New York, USA)
2010, April – Ukrainian Museum (New York, USA)
