Nataliia Vorozhbyt

Writing

Nataliia Vorozhbyt

Born 1975-04-04 · Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR

Nataliia Anatoliivna Vorozhbyt, born 4 April 1975, is a Ukrainian playwright, screenwriter and director. Vorozhbyt prefers to be referred to professionally as Natalka, the diminutive form of her name. Vorozhbyt graduated in 2000 from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow. She has also studied at the Iowa Writers Workshop. She was a Visiting Fellow and Ukrainian Writer in Residence at St Hugh's College, Oxford for the 2023-24 term. She was named a member of PEN Ukraine in May 2024. Over the years she has written her scripts in both Russian and Ukrainian. This however increasingly caused her pain. Speaking to a reporter for The Moscow Times in 2014, she said, "In connection with the anti-Russian mood, many of my Ukrainian friends have purposefully switched to Ukrainian exclusively. The pain and hurt and protest that I feel make me want to do the same. I very much feel that moment has arrived. Then I think, damn it, Russian is my language, too. Why should I have to give it up? I love it. I write in it. Protest against myself? I won't do that." However, by the following year she was writing almost exclusively in Ukrainian. Together with German director Georg Genoux she founded the Theater of the Displaced, where refugees from Donbas could tell their stories,and curated the Class Act project. She wrote the screenplay for the feature film Cyborgs about the defense of Sergei Prokoviev Airport near Donetsk, where Ukrainian soldiers fought for 242 days against separatists. Vorozhbyt traveled through the war zone for four months and spoke with those involved. The war situation in Ukraine is a frequent theme in her work.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

No artwork available
NR

Plot of the film is built around a betrayal... He charmed her, She thought it must be love and responded mutually, but soon after a bitter disappointment has come: He audaciously betrayed Her, naїve and trusting. A betrayal appeared so intolerable that She decided to emigrate. Is “She” Ukraine?..

Beautiful Woman

2012

Bad Roads poster
7.1

Four short stories are set along the roads of Donbass during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of just what is going on. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenseless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge.

Bad Roads

2021

Bad Roads poster
7.1

Four short stories are set along the roads of Donbass during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of just what is going on. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenseless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge.

Bad Roads

2021

Bad Roads poster
7.1

Four short stories are set along the roads of Donbass during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of just what is going on. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenseless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge.

Bad Roads

2021

Steel Butterfly poster
4.7

A story about a homeless teenager Chuma and her relationships with police.

Steel Butterfly

2012

Demons poster
NR

In the 1990s, Slavik, a homeless drifter from Russia with a blurred past, wanders into a remote village in central Ukraine. Nina, a strong and independent woman much older than him takes the stranger into her home. At first, their strange companionship resembles an unlikely love story. But as their relationship unfolds, love turns into betrayal, and the village begins to reveal its hidden rules: a place where witches may live next door and the dead sometimes speak with the living.

Demons

2027

Demons poster
NR

In the 1990s, Slavik, a homeless drifter from Russia with a blurred past, wanders into a remote village in central Ukraine. Nina, a strong and independent woman much older than him takes the stranger into her home. At first, their strange companionship resembles an unlikely love story. But as their relationship unfolds, love turns into betrayal, and the village begins to reveal its hidden rules: a place where witches may live next door and the dead sometimes speak with the living.

Demons

2027

Cyborgs poster
7.4

‘The Cyborgs’ is re-telling the recent history of Ukraine – the legendary fight for Donetsk Airport in 2014 during Russian invasion. The freedom fighters from various divisions of Ukrainian army and volunteer battalions took a 242-days stand against the Russian backed militants until the complete destruction of the airport’s terminal.

Cyborgs

2017

The Wild Fields poster
6.7

The protagonist, Herman has to come back to his native Donbas after years spent away. He has to look into the case of his brother’s sudden disappearance. Herman meets real and unreal characters, his childhood friends and the local mafia. And suddenly, to his own surprise, he decides to stay in his native town with people who love and believe him and need his defense.

The Wild Fields

2018

Are You OK? poster
NR

A short story about the post-traumatic experience of Ukrainian refugees in Europe after being occupied by Russian troops in the spring of 2022.

Are You OK?

2022

Are You OK? poster
NR

A short story about the post-traumatic experience of Ukrainian refugees in Europe after being occupied by Russian troops in the spring of 2022.

Are You OK?

2022

The Potion poster
NR

A horror film based on the legendary work of Olga Kobylianska "On Sunday Early I Dug a Potion".

The Potion