I am Kamila Boichenko, a film director of Ukrainian and Romanian origin, based in London, The United Kingdom.
Growing up in multicultural environment deeply shaped my perception of the world. I was surrounded by people of different nationalities — Ukrainians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Turks — and I learned early how contrasting cultures, languages, and identities can coexist within the same space.
This mixture of cultures became a fundamental part of my creative vision. I speak several languages — Ukrainian, Polish, English, Romanian, and Russian — and I am fascinated by how language shapes human behavior and emotional expression. For already 10 years I live in Europe as an imigrant.
My debut short fiction film Black Shawl, 2025 marks the beginning of my filmmaking journey. Black Shawl originated from my family history. The film has been screened internationally and received several awards at international film festivals. It continues to travel across festivals worldwide. The project is currently being developed into my debut feature film of the same title.
Since 2022, I have been actively involved in advocacy for prisoners of war following the capture of my brother in Mariupol during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, I spoke at the OSCE conference, raising awareness about prisoners of war and continuing my humanitarian engagement.
My activism has deeply influenced my filmmaking. During my formative years, I also witnessed two major revolutions in Ukraine. Later, this was followed by war. These historical and personal events deeply influenced my perception of reality and belonging.
In my documentary film My Street I began to question how society perceives war through statistics rather than human lives. In a world where Ukraine is now shaped by war, political tension, and ongoing трагedies, I wanted to show how my own family’s life has changed within this reality. What feels especially important to me is that my hometown is one of the places furthest from the front line — geographically distant from the war, yet deeply affected by it. The film also includes a large amount of archival footage shot by my father during my childhood, which makes this project very intimate and personal.
I grew up surrounded by extreme contrasts. I was raised in a post-Soviet country marked by a brutalist past and a strong imposition of russian imperial influence, while at the same time experiencing a period of rapid cultural transformation in the 2000s.
I often found myself walking through modest streets while listening to David Bowie — whose music opened an entirely different emotional and imaginative world for me.
At the same time, I was immersed in American cinema, pop culture, and music — vibrant, colorful worlds that existed in parallel to the complexity of my surroundings. My inner world became a constant dialogue between these contrasting realities: political upheaval and pop aesthetics, violence and beauty, collapse and imagination.
BAD ROMANCE was inspired by my experience of growing up in a small town and dreaming of escape into another world — a world shaped by pop culture, fantasy, and emotional transformation. I grew up in a place defined by cultural diversity, where many nationalities coexisted, which often made me question identity itself — who I am, and where I belong.
my top 25 favourite movies:
1. The Elephant Man, 1980, by David Lynch
2. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, 1975, by MIlos Forman
3. Underground, 1995, by Emir Kusturica
4. A Woman Under The Influence, 1995, by John Cassavetes
5. Thirst, 2009, by Park Chan-wook
6. Dogville, 2003, by Lars Von Trier
7. Freaks, 1932, by Tod Browning
8. Samsara, 2011, by Ron Fricke
9. Parasite, 2019, by Bong Joon Ho
10. Secrets Lies, 1996, by Mike Leigh
11. Heavenly Creatures, 1994, by Peter Jackson
12. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, 1966, by Mike Nichols
13. Kill Bill: Vol. 2, 2004, by Quentin Tarantino
14. Sunset Boulevard, 1950, by Billy Wilder
15. The Piano Teacher, 2001, by Michael Haneke
16. Forrest Gump, 1994, by Robert Zemeckis
17. Kontinental 25, 2025, by Radu Jude
18. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, 2002, by Park Chan-wook
19. Jennifers Body, 2009, by Karyn Kusama
20. The Handmaiden, 2016, by Park Chan-wook
21. Joint Security Area, 2000, by Park Chan-wook
22. Boys Dont Cry, 1999, by Kimberly Peirce
23. The Sound of Music, 1965, Robert Wise
24. The Lobster, 2015, by Yorgos Lanthimos
25. 4 Month 3 Weeks 2 Days, 2007, by Cristian Mungiu