In this episode, host Genevieve Trainor is speaking with Kyiv-based award-winning director Alisa Kovalenko about her latest documentary feature, My Dear Théo. After the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine (on February 24, 2022), Alisa left the editing room of her film We Will Not Fade Away and joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces.As a soldier, she served on the frontline in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, fighting in the trenches for four months. During those four months on the frontline, Alisa filmed a video diary for her then 4-year-old son, Théo, in case she didn't return. ”It’s a film which was not supposed to happen,” Alisa says.Her “poignant” video diary, as Variety describes it, became My Dear Théo. View the trailer here.She also captured her fellow soldiers’ humanity, offering a rare glimpse into the tenderness and connections among the soldiers defending Ukraine against Russia's full-scale invasion, many of whom held regular jobs before the full-scale invasion.My Dear Théo is premiering in the main competition at the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival, CPH:Dox, and shows multiple times during the festival, which runs March 19–30, 2025.A Haka Films production (Poland), My Dear Théo is co-produced by Moon Man (Ukraine), Ji.hlava (Czech Republic) and JB Films (U.S.), with executive production by Monica Hellström, and additional support from the Polish Film Institute, Chicken & Egg Pictures and Meadow Fund.See additional press coverage for My Dear Théo from The Hollywood Reporter here.ABOUT ALISAAlisa was born and grew up in Zaporizhia, which is in southeastern Ukraine. She studied documentary cinema at the Karpenko Karyi National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television in Kyiv, and at the Andrzej Wajda School in Warsaw in the DocPro program.Alisa’s film Home Games was the first-ever Ukrainian creative documentary acquired by Netflix.

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