Born in Ukraine but raised in Italy, with two families, two cultures and two lifestyles, my name is Anastasiya Melnyk and if the question is: “which of the two do you prefer?” the answer is: “both” or, if you prefer, “neither”, because after 28 years of going back and forth you end up appreciating everything just as it is, understanding that everyone has been shaped by their own cultural context, for better or worse.
Travelling, I met many people in different situations, sometimes almost surreal, without initially realising that what I was experiencing was something unique worth telling. Through my studies, I was able to refine my sensitivity both in observation and storytelling. All of this led me to write what later became the heart of my Bachelor’s thesis in Cinema.
I am fundamentally an animation enthusiast, so my research extended to the entire history of European animation, with a particular interest in Soviet stop-motion. Today I am a 3D Animator who has officially been working in the field for about 3 years; yes, perhaps I am not the one directing, or perhaps I do not work in stop-motion, but I still continue to tell stories through the movements and gestures that I have been able to observe and appreciate in the people who accompanied me on my various journeys.
The Other Cinema
Animations almost always carry clear references to the culture of their country of origin; they contain a collective imagination, a direct witness to the time and spirit of a nation.
The aim of Anastasiya’s thesis is to deepen her personal knowledge of animated cinema and make the most of it throughout her educational and professional journey. In this sense, she focused on that golden age of animation in Europe that developed during wartime: she traced the few but fundamental authors who bore witness to changes in the tastes and sensibilities of society, during a historical and political period caught between the oppression of totalitarian regimes on one side and the rapid advance of the international market on the other.
Finally, she completed her analysis by linking one of her own projects to one of these authors, Garri Bardin, whose work most strongly reflects the connection and spirit of a popular tradition.
