Grip /

Credits

cast

Nastya Ivashchenko

Director

Biography

Born in 1999 in Moscow, Nastya Ivaschenko studied fine art from childhood. While studying at the Gerasimov State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), she became fascinated with feature films. In 2025, she graduated from the Moscow Film School (MFS) with a degree in directing. Nastya Ivaschenko's first short film, "The Fool" (Durak) was screened at the Amur Autumn International Film and Theater Festival in Blagoveshchensk in 2024. She currently works as a documentary film director for television.

Filmography

The Fool (Durak), 2024, short film Grip (Khvatka), 2026, short film

Nastya Ivashchenko

Director

Biography

Born in 1999 in Moscow, Nastya Ivaschenko studied fine art from childhood. While studying at the Gerasimov State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), she became fascinated with feature films. In 2025, she graduated from the Moscow Film School (MFS) with a degree in directing. Nastya Ivaschenko's first short film, "The Fool" (Durak) was screened at the Amur Autumn International Film and Theater Festival in Blagoveshchensk in 2024. She currently works as a documentary film director for television.

Filmography

The Fool (Durak), 2024, short film Grip (Khvatka), 2026, short film

Directors Statement

For me, the starting point of any film is a person. Their personality in unique circumstances or an unresolved internal conflict. Observing real people gives us much more scope for work than imagination. In interpersonal conflicts, we always think only ourselves are right. But if we look at the situation from the other person's perspective, they're also right. So how do we resolve it? I believe the decision rests with each viewer, based on their beliefs and values. Therefore, it's important to me to make films that touch everyone, everyone who is right in their own way and lives with their truth. This is the great strength of cinema — it has many faces. ‘Grip’ is based on a true story that happened to my friends in a remote provincial town. Global events shook the locals and forced everyone to choose their future path in life. Pre-production and production of the film were like a summer trip to the river with friends. We filmed at my country house in the Tver region on the banks of the Volga. We rose at dawn and went to bed in the early morning. We dined together at a large table, spent hours editing the filming plan, went to bed together, and whispered before sleeping. I'm currently working on two feature-length scripts in different genres: a family drama about fathers and sons and an experimental thriller about the place of the little man in modern society. My main goal in my films is to explore and process the human experience: what it's like to LIVE.