Svitlana Topor is a screenwriter, director, and film editor.
She graduated from the National University of Theatre and Cinema (Kyiv, Ukraine) and continued her studies at the Wajda School in Warsaw.
She complemented her education through renowned international workshops, including Torino Film Lab and Locarno Summer Academy, learning from leading professionals such as Werner Herzog, Sergei Loznitsa, Oliver Schütte, Volker Schlöndorff, Heidrun Schleef, Yuri Norstein, Barry Primus, Marcel Loziński, and others.
In 2011, she was nominated for the Gaude Polonia Grant by the Polish Minister of Culture and received a grant from the European Cultural Foundation for her experimental documentary project Soul Cage.
Svitlana is a seasoned editor with over ten years of experience in both documentary and fiction. Her work in editing, which requires careful attention to story construction and rhythm, informs the way she develops the narratives she writes.
Her short film script My Dear Nightmare was a finalist in the Franzi Shorts Script Competition (Denmark). She is currently developing two feature scripts with producers on board. Her debut feature script, No Smoking at the Border, received development support from the Polish Film Institute and was presented at the Thessaloniki Co-Production Forum and Sofia Meetings, where it won an award.
In her work, Svitlana is not afraid to tell personal stories and enjoys blending genres. She often explores the search for identity, experiences of migration, and family relationships, always with humour at the heart of her storytelling.
Speaks Polish, English, French, Ukrainian, Russian and Spanish
Member of Polish Filmmakers’ Association