Nikolay Kovalenko
Directing
Biography
Born in 2001 in Moscow. In 2023 graduated from the class of directing of Ivan I. Tverdovsky at the Design School of the Higher School of Economics. Participated in national and international film festivals. His graduation work “Lelera” (2023, short) won the Grand Prix and the N.S.Mikhalkov Award at the St. Anna Festival of Student and Debut Works. His filmography also includes the shorts “V” (2021), “The Place of Force” (2021, doc.), “Anna” (2022). In 2025 completed his feature debut “Another World”.
Known For

Lugansk region, May 2014. The Novozhilov family, by chance, finds itself in the thick of events in Lugansk. Vlad Novozhilov is a former participant in the war in Afghanistan. He knows firsthand what war is. Having seen enough of the horrors of war in his time, in principle he does not even want to touch a weapon. In a situation, he sees only one way out - to leave the country. But you can't run away from the war, the border is already closed. To save his family, he will have to make difficult moral choices.
Hotsunlight

The relations in the happy family of 15-year-old Sasha begin to crack: his father spends days and nights at work, in a battery store, his mother is preparing to move.The boy feels something goes wrong and tries to sort out the situation, but do not know how... Another world means life after childhood, in which there is discord, despair and hope.
Another World

The unifying beginning of all the stories are their characters – they are all teenagers just entering adulthood. The theme of socio-psychological adaptation in the big world, the search for oneself and the difficulties of communication runs through all the films. These young people are ready to desperately run on thin ice, look for their favorite toy in a huge city dump, run away from their parents in their van, build a model of a dream house day after day, sit for hours in the pouring rain. In short, they are all learning to live.
We Are Only Dreaming

Memories from the era of Studio 54. Cocaine chic. Kisses. Dances. Drugs. Eventually, rock’n’roll. The story of one night at the end of a party.
V

"Closing" is a film almanac made up of nine verses. Instead of a rap beat, there is beer, rain, a beach, a zoo, random conversations, and a city that lives its own life. These are not stories with a beginning and an end, but statements written into the rhythm of the festival, where cinema becomes a way to be together and a way to be alone. Any almanac is a film cypher: everyone goes to the microphone, says their piece, and leaves, leaving room for someone else. "Closing" is exactly that: a collection of voices in which you can hear laughter, fatigue, love, and meaninglessness. This is a film about how cinema closes the day and opens the night.
Закрытие

Grandfather Valera and his grandson Kolya are relaxing in a sanatorium. There they meet the young writer Nikolai. The boy invites him to his birthday, but his grandfather persistently asks Nikolai not to appear at the celebration.
Lelera

Taras, Kolya and Lyosha are childhood friends. A year ago, on the last day of December their lives went in different directions. The guys shook hands and agreed: “In a year we will meet on the shore and celebrated the New Year! With fireworks and all. Because we have never done it before.” The long-awaited day has come. The lives of Kolya and Lyosha are going as planned but Taras has fallen in love.
Our Year
A young architect Anna is building a model of a house that existed in her family some time ago.