Private Project

Motanka

In the depths of a remote forest, two girls play a simple game of hide and seek. But what begins as a moment of childhood wonder slowly becomes a quiet encounter with something far older than themselves. Among the trees, they discover strange handmade dolls, signs of Motanka, a mystical figure: crafted without face, without voice, but full of ancestral weight. As they drift apart and find their way back to one another, they unknowingly awaken an ancient bond: not only between themselves, but with the earth, the past, and the ancestral spirit that connects us all.
This is a story about roots, loss, and the unspoken power that lives between generations.

  • Natalie Lomatska
    Director
  • Natalie Lomatska
    Writer
  • Natalie Lomatska
    Producer
  • Andrea De Luca
    Producer
    Camera Operator
  • Anna Gordon
    Key Cast
    "Orysia"
  • Ruslana Tkach
    Key Cast
    "Marichka"
  • Julia Kirichenko
    Key Cast
    "Motanka"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 9, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    900 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy, Ukraine
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    Ukrainian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Natalie Lomatska

I’ve always been drawn to visual storytelling, long before I knew it could be a job, it was my way of understanding the world. Photography was my first language: a way to hold on to fleeting moments, to capture the emotions, light, silence. Over time, I expanded my work into film, combining my visual sensitivity with narrative intuition.

In my work, I focus on emotional authenticity, visual poetry, and the quiet intensity of human connection. Much of my work explores themes of memory, identity, and roots, that ties us to each other, to the past, and to the land we come from.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Motanka doesn’t offer answers. She doesn’t speak. She simply exists. Stitched from memory, bound by tradition, passed down by women who didn’t need to explain everything to make it sacred. In this film, I wanted to preserve that mystery. To let the silence speak. To show how even in play, in distance, in rediscovery, we are never fully disconnected from where we come from.