Mila Zhluktenko

Directing

Mila Zhluktenko

Known for

Directing

Credits

14 titles

Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Mila Zhluktenko studied documentary filmmaking at HFF Munich. Her films have been screened at a number of international festivals including the Berlinale, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the San Sebastian Film Festival, MoMA’s Doc Fortnight and at Visions du Réel. Her current works co-directed with Daniel Asadi Faezi include Aralkum (Juryprize Visions du Réel) and waking up in silence (Juryprize Berlinale Generation KPlus). Currently they work on their debut feature film.

Known for

Behind the camera

Iron Butterflies poster
8.0

This lesson in political revelation focuses on the shooting down of the Malaysian passenger jet MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. A meticulous, investigative exposé that lays bare the mechanisms of Russian warfare.

Iron Butterflies

2023

In retrospect poster
4.0

Immigrant workers build a shopping mall for the upcoming 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In 2016, nine people with migrant backgrounds are killed in a racist attack at the same mall.

In retrospect

2025

In retrospect poster
4.0

Immigrant workers build a shopping mall for the upcoming 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In 2016, nine people with migrant backgrounds are killed in a racist attack at the same mall.

In retrospect

2025

In retrospect poster
4.0

Immigrant workers build a shopping mall for the upcoming 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In 2016, nine people with migrant backgrounds are killed in a racist attack at the same mall.

In retrospect

2025

Aralkum poster
6.5

The Aral “Sea” powerfully reveals the deadly impact of human activities—in this case, the intensive cultivation of cotton in the USSR—on an ecosystem. Daniel Asadi Faezi (The Absence of Apricots, VdR 2018) and Mila Zhluktenko (Find Fix Finish, VdR 2017) film the shore’s last inhabitants, who have lost their way of life to the desertification of their environment. A beautiful and poignant work about our probable future.

Aralkum

2022

Aralkum poster
6.5

The Aral “Sea” powerfully reveals the deadly impact of human activities—in this case, the intensive cultivation of cotton in the USSR—on an ecosystem. Daniel Asadi Faezi (The Absence of Apricots, VdR 2018) and Mila Zhluktenko (Find Fix Finish, VdR 2017) film the shore’s last inhabitants, who have lost their way of life to the desertification of their environment. A beautiful and poignant work about our probable future.

Aralkum

2022

Waking Up in Silence poster
7.5

A summer’s day in a former German military barrack: children forced to flee Ukraine have found refuge here. In their games, they discover military symbols from the past and link them to their experiences.

Waking Up in Silence

2023

Waking Up in Silence poster
7.5

A summer’s day in a former German military barrack: children forced to flee Ukraine have found refuge here. In their games, they discover military symbols from the past and link them to their experiences.

Waking Up in Silence

2023

Waking Up in Silence poster
7.5

A summer’s day in a former German military barrack: children forced to flee Ukraine have found refuge here. In their games, they discover military symbols from the past and link them to their experiences.

Waking Up in Silence

2023

Opera Glasses poster
NR

One night with the guest and workers at the Kyiv Opera House in Ukraine.

Opera Glasses

2019

Find Fix Finish poster
NR

Find Fix Finish delves into the stories of three US-Drone pilots revealing the clandestine operational strategies practiced by the US Government.

Find Fix Finish

2017

Find Fix Finish poster
NR

Find Fix Finish delves into the stories of three US-Drone pilots revealing the clandestine operational strategies practiced by the US Government.

Find Fix Finish

2017

Critical Condition poster
NR

Inspired by the events around the life of Lev Rebet, Ukrainian author and editor-in-chief of the Munich-based exile newspaper "Ukrainian Independist", the film portrays the fates of the Ukrainian diaspora in the past and present.

Critical Condition

2025

Critical Condition poster
NR

Inspired by the events around the life of Lev Rebet, Ukrainian author and editor-in-chief of the Munich-based exile newspaper "Ukrainian Independist", the film portrays the fates of the Ukrainian diaspora in the past and present.

Critical Condition

2025