Founder and program director of Northern Lights Film Festival
Volia Chajkouskaya was born in Belarus. Before obtaining a Masters Degree in directing and producing documentary film in Baltic Film and Media School (Tallinn, Estonia), Volia worked in media for 11 years. In 2016, she launched Volia Films production company. Volia Films produced a feature-length documentary “The Road Movie” (dir. Dmitrii Kalashnikov) in 2016. “The Road Movie” world-premiered at IDFA First Appearance Competition the same year and was screened at more than 80 festivals. She is a voting member of European Film Academy, a participant of CICAE training for Art Cinema Professionals in September 2016 at Venice IFF, a member of Emerging Producers Network 2018. Additionally, Volia is a founder and program director of Northern Lights Nordic Baltic Film Festival in Belarus. The festival focuses on Northern European and Baltic fiction films and documentaries, as well as independent Belarusian films; it has developed an industry platform and a wide range of side events. In 2022 Volia initiated and co-founded Belarusian Independent Film Academy (BIFA), which was officially launched at European Film Market (Berlinale).
In 2019 Volia joined Allfilm production company as a producer and director. Currently, she has several projects in active stages as a producer: “72 hours” (dir. Anna Savchenko), and is directing and producing her first feature length – “The Wife of…”
She is currently based in Estonia.
Filmography
Director
2024 The Wife of
2020 My idea of myself
2020 Common Language
Producer
2024 The Wife of
2024 72 hours, dir. Anna Savchenko (co-producer)
2022 Yoyogi, dir. Max Golomidov
2019 Prazdnik, dir. Vladimir Loginov
2019 Pure Art, dir. Maksim Shved (co-producer)
2018 My Granny From Mars, dir. Aleksander Mihalkovich
2016 Test-730, dir. Daria Korol
2016 The Road Movie, dir. Dmitrii Kalashnikov