In our first episode of the new season, our guest is film director, screenwriter, and creative producer Mariia Ponomarova (1991, Kyiv). Mariia studied film directing and screenwriting at Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema & Television in Ukraine graduating cum laude in 2013. Focusing on character development in film during her course,  Mariia graduated from the Master of Film artistic research program in 2016 at the Netherlands Film Academy. Short fiction and documentary films written and directed by Mariia were screened at such festivals as Sarajevo FF, Vancouver IFF, VIS Vienna Shorts, Netherlands FF,  Odesa IFF, CineDOC-Tbilisi, Go Short ISFF, ArtDocfest, Molodist IFF, and others. Mariia's first producer's documentary project 'Fragile Memory' was a part of the Ex-Oriente Film workshop and received pitching prizes at Odesa IFF Film Industry 2018 & 2019, and East Doc Platform 2019. Mariia's directing debut documentary feature 'Nice Ladies' received a B2Bdoc Pithing Award at Producers Meet Producers. Mariia's works capture the rich cultural heritage of Ukraine, and, like a sculptor chipping away at a block of marble, she reveals the essence of Ukrainian identity, always present, but invisible to the untrained eye. She lives and works in Amsterdam visiting Ukraine for her film projects on a regular basis. And today she is with us in the Yellow Van and I couldn't be happier that she could find the time. Welcome to the Yellow Van, Mariia! MARIIA'S WORKS ponomarova.com [http://www.ponomarova.com] Ardea [https://directorsnotes.com/2019/08/05/mariia-ponomarova-ardea/] May 9th [https://vimeo.com/170656597] Family Hour [https://vimeo.com/170656597] Fragile Memory [https://vimeo.com/376224247] Nice Ladies [https://vimeo.com/654149167/081ae970ce] TOPICS The Fall Of Lenin [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7256354/], Ukraine 2017, Svitlana Shimko [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6950843/?ref_=tt_ov_dr] Olia Hercules, Ukrainian-British cookbook author [https://oliahercules.com/about/] Dziga Vertov, Ukrainian director & camerman [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dziga_Vertov] Everything Is Illuminated [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Is_Illuminated_(film)], USA 2005, written and directed by Liev Schreiber [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liev_Schreiber] Killing Eve, TV Series, 2008-2012 [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7016936/] The Gulag Archipelago [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago], Soviet Union 1973, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn] What We Got Wrong About Solzhenitsyn, 2022, Essay by Blake Smith [https://unherd.com/2022/03/what-we-get-wrong-about-solzhenitsyn/] Svetlana Alexievich [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svetlana_Alexievich], Belarusian journalist and author Nikolai Amosov [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Amosov] On Photography [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Photography], USA 1977, Susan Sontag [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag] Takflix [https://takflix.com/en] INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT Docu Help [https://docudays.ua/eng/help] Come Back Alive Foundation [https://www.comebackalive.in.ua/donate] 100 Drones Organisation [http://100drones.com.ua/] MUSIC Love In The Face Of Fear [https://jimkroft.bigcartel.com/product/love-in-the-face-of-fear], Jim Kroft [http://www.jimkroft.com/] Yellow Va Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/yellowvan] Yellow Van Stories is a