Genre
Synopsis
THE INTERVIEW follows Maria, an immigrant trying to find a job after receiving her work authorization card. It opens with her working for cash as a cleaning lady but soon after receives her work authorization. We follow her as she goes through numerous interviews, and is turned away time and time again. On one such occasion, she learns it’s because of her accent. Through a chance encounter, she obtains a mysterious device which alters her voice to sound like a native English speaker. She uses it at her next interview but to no avail. Devastated and lost, she throws the device away and decides she isn’t going to compromise who she is to try and win a job. With a new confidence about herself, she attends another interview. The story ends with her cleaning again and waiting to hear back from her last interview. She isn’t getting her hopes up but has a positive outlook on the future.
Bio
Ksenia is a Russian-born award-winning film director, screenwriter, and producer based in Chicago. She earned her MFA degree in Cinema Directing from Columbia College Chicago. Ksenia is a member of BAFTA Connect and NYWIFT.
Her films have been screened at a multitude of film festivals around the globe. Ksenia is a recipient of the Albert P. Weisman Award, Carole Fielding Student Grant, The Arch Bruce Brown Foundation Grant and The Lya Dym Rosenblum Professional Development Award. Her thesis film Jack and Anna has screened at 40+ festivals including the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival. It won the Best Global Short: Beyond the Rainbow Award at the 2019 SCAD Savannah Film Festival and has been nationally recognized at the 42nd Telly Awards, garnering Silver and Bronze Awards. Ksenia was also nominated for the Young Director Award, Cannes Lions.
Ksenia’s portfolio includes credits on numerous well-known productions in various roles. In 2020, she co-directed the feature-length experimental film, One Woman Hamlet. She is currently developing a few projects, including a TV pilot, two shorts, and a feature. Her short screenplay, The Blouse, recently won the Grand Prize at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) Screenplay Competition 2022. Ksenia was also selected to participate in the AICP Mentoring Program Cycle 2 and she was a semi-finalist at the 2023 CDDP-Commercial Directors Diversity Program.
Awards History
Outstanding Screenplays Shorts Competition 2023 - Semifinalist
Screenwriters Network 2023 - SWN Short Film Screenplay Competition Finalist
PANO Microgrant 2024 - Semifinalist
Roy W. Dean Short Film Grant 2023
Credits
Co-Writer - Brian Naughton
Producer - Søren Beregan
