NC State film studies alum Darya Levchenko is combining her Ukrainian heritage and her interest and knowledge in film to bring two politically and artistically charged events to campus this week. 

Levchenko, a Fulbright Scholar, obtained her Master of Arts in English with a film studies concentration from NC State in 2019 and has used the experience from her time at State to aid in her mission to preserve Ukrainian culture. She currently works in film festival programming, bringing awareness to global political issues.

“In the course of my [film] studies, I started off first interdisciplinary, and then I kind of slowly went toward the festivals and how film festivals influence cultural diplomacy, and that’s where I’m at right now,” Levchenko said. “The studies that I did during my Fulbright in the States kind of led me to the career I have today.”

Levchenko works mostly with international projects and is currently focusing on representations of Ukrainian visual arts with a focus on film. She works with several organizations in both the world of arts and humanitarian work, including Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, the annual and only human rights film festival in Ukraine.

“There’s so much art going on, so I’m trying to bring the light there,” Levchenko said. “I’m not the only one doing [this], but I’m trying to put in [work] where my strengths are. It’s building networks, research and trying to kind of build a stronger foundation for sustainability of all those organizations.”

This trip marks Levchenko’s first visit back to the United States since 2019, and she’s committed to making the most of her time in the country, intending to share her research with as many people as possible and bring light to the important issues she deals with daily.

Levchenko said she worked with NC State film professor Marsha Gordon to bring her work back to campus.

“I talked to Dr. Gordon and asked if [this] will be something that the students and NC State would be interested in hearing me speak about, and she said, ‘Yes,’” Levchenko said. “I decided that it [could] be an interesting topic to talk about how programming arts can lead to changes within the society, and how my experience at NC State kind of built into my larger experience programming for arts later in life.”

Levchenko will be hosting two events on campus, the first of which will be a presentation called Programming for Change on Jan. 17.

“You don’t need to be particularly interested in programming or in cultural policy and politics,” Levchenko said. “If people want to come to [this] discussion with no prior knowledge, they can do that. I think it’s going to be an interesting conversation covering a very broad ground in terms of what Ukrainian arts are.”

The second event Levchenko will host will be on Jan. 18, in association with the Global Film Series. During the event, she will be presenting and screening various animated short films from Ukraine. 

“It’s basically my job [to] promote Ukrainian visual arts,” Levchenko said. “We decided on animation short films by young Ukrainian authors to showcase the diversity of Ukrainian talent and also to keep people engaged and interested. I’m bringing in smaller films that have [been] done by students, which we thought would be of particular interest to interdisciplinary students and also [to those who] dabble in animation within visual arts.”

The films Levchenko will present aren’t readily accessible online, making her event of particular value. 

“This content, as fascinating as it is, is not very easy to find online,” Levchenko said. “It’s not that accessible. So [this is] a unique opportunity to see Ukrainian animation films [since] there are few resources that feature Ukrainian animation films.”

Levchenko said she believes acknowledging art and global issues is important and that this importance motivated her to get involved in the work she currently does. 

“I think the fact that people know what Ukraine is and where it is on the map right now is amazing,” Levchenko said. “Because, in addition to dealing with a particular crisis of life loss, we also deal with the extinction of culture. The type of genocide that Russia is wielding is focusing on erasing our national identity [rooted] in culture, and I think that people in America generally are not very well acquainted or well aware [of] the diversity, richness and history of Ukrainian talent and Ukrainian arts.”

Levchenko said she hopes the events she will present on campus will help keep attention on Ukraine.

“Bringing the resistance to the forefront … as well as the overview of how engaged and interesting it can be, and how storytelling can be at the forefront of things global,” Levchenko said. “I thought it’d be a good way to keep people’s attention on Ukraine and support it.”