ANGELINA PODOROZHNAYA
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER & Photographer | LOS ANGELES
ANGELINA PODOROZHNAYA
DOCUMENTARY FILM DIRECTOR & PHOTOGRAPHER
Crafting cinematic documentaries and elevated visual storytelling. From intimate human stories to high-end branded films.
contact: +1 215 554 87 88 / angelinapodorozhnayawork@gmail.com
Visual Stories
Fragments of reality captured through a documentary lens. Each frame holds a story, blending raw moments with crafted beauty and visual storytelling.
URBAN STORIES: LONDON
A documentary photo series capturing fragments of life across London — from quiet, overlooked moments to the intensity of urban identity. The project brings together portraits and street scenes: a homeless figure, a woman in Soho, a businessman in motion, a Muslim neighborhood, Chinatown streets, and fleeting details like a fallen maple leaf on the pavement.
Through contrast and proximity, the series explores coexistence, anonymity, and the layered realities of a global city, where every frame holds a story shaped by culture, circumstance, and presence.

DAGESTAN: BETWEEN SILENCE AND TRADITION
An observational documentary photo series exploring life in the North Caucasus through themes of visibility, control, and quiet endurance.
Set within rural Dagestan, the project captures the tension between tradition and individuality, where daily life unfolds under the weight of unspoken rules and inherited structures. While the series observes the broader fabric of village life, it holds a particular sensitivity to women’s presence — their gestures, silences, and constrained forms of expression.
Through intimate, unembellished imagery, the photographs reveal a world where identity is negotiated within boundaries, and where resilience often exists in subtle, almost invisible forms. The series reflects on belonging, restriction, and the fragile space between acceptance and resistance.
BEYOND PERFECTION
A documentary photo series exploring the presence of adult ballerinas beyond the idealized image of classical ballet.
The project captures women who continue their relationship with dance outside institutional frameworks, revealing a more intimate and grounded reality of movement. Removed from the stage, their bodies carry both discipline and vulnerabilityshaped by time, experience, and personal history.
Through a cinematic and observational approach, the series reflects on identity, femininity, and the persistence of passion beyond youth and perfection. These images shift the gaze from performance to presence, revealing ballet not as spectacle, but as a lived and evolving experience.
Fragments of larger documentary narratives — including festival-winning films — capturing real lives, social tension, and human depth.
Director’s Showreel
A selection of films and visual works exploring human stories, social realities, and intimate moments across cultures.
Angelina Podorozhnaya is a documentary filmmaker and visual storyteller working across film and photography. Her work explores human connection, identity, and the complexity of everyday life through an observational and cinematic approach, often focusing on human rights–related stories.
Her films have been presented at international festivals, including ArtDocFest and Oslo/Fusion, featured on global media platforms such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and recognized with awards such as the Special Prize of the Canadian Embassy and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Prize.
This showreel brings together selected works, reflecting a visual language rooted in honesty, intimacy, and real human stories.
FILM SELECTIONS
Selected documentary works presented at international festivals and featured across global media platforms.
Nicotine Virginity
She dreams of love, but reality slowly reveals its darker edges.
An intimate portrait of a woman caught between illusion and truth — confronting addiction, violence, and the courage to choose her own future.
Nicotine Virginity (2018) is a short documentary by Angelina Podorozhnaya that explores the fragile boundary between hope and disillusionment within an intimate relationship.
Thirty-year-old Tanya dreams of marriage and a stable future. However, as her relationship unfolds, the image of an ideal partner begins to fracture. Beneath the surface, the film reveals patterns of alcoholism and domestic violence, gradually exposing the emotional and psychological complexity of her situation. Faced with these realities, Tanya is forced to confront difficult questions about love, dependence, and the possibility of escape.
The film was selected for the competition program “Environment” at the 12th International Documentary Film Festival ArtDocFest (2018) and was later screened at the 5th International Film Festival “8 Women” (2019).
NICOTINE VIRGINITY
An intimate portrait of a woman confronting abuse, disillusionment, and the courage to break free.
Bans Are Trends
As repression intensifies, private life collapses into the public sphere.
The film follows a couple confronting discrimination and institutional pressure, revealing how identity, love, and resistance become inseparable.
Bans Are Trends (2024) is a short documentary by Angelina Podorozhnaya about love, courage, and the right to live openly.
The film follows an LGBTQ+ couple, Tosya and Masya, who navigate life in an environment marked by increasing social pressure, discrimination, and restrictions. Despite threats and stigma, they continue to build a life together, turning their relationship into an act of quiet resistance. Their story reveals how intimacy and love can become forms of defiance in a society where visibility itself is politicized.
The film was presented at the International Documentary Film Festival ArtDocFest and was selected for the 2024 program of the Oslo/Fusion International Film Festival, one of Europe’s leading festivals dedicated to queer cinema and culture.
BANS ARE TRENDS
An intimate portrait of love and resilience, where personal relationships become acts of quiet resistance.
Martha Is in August
A longing for motherhood is interrupted by loss that resists language.
Through intimate observation, the film traces a woman’s experience of grief, memory, and fragile resilience — where absence becomes a lasting presence.

Martha Is in August (2020) is a lyrical and intimate documentary by Angelina Podorozhnaya that explores grief, resilience, and the quiet emotional landscapes of loss.

“I will become a mother,” the heroine of the film once dreamed of saying these words for the second time. However, she tragically lost her daughter late in pregnancy. In the aftermath of this devastating event, Anastasia chooses to share her story. The film follows her journey through grief, survival, and gradual healing, while also reflecting on her eldest son David, who faced serious complications at birth.

Through an observational and deeply personal approach, the documentary explores themes of perinatal loss, motherhood, and emotional endurance. It captures the fragile balance between pain and continuation of life, revealing the quiet strength required to move forward after tragedy.

The film was selected for the Environment competition program at the 14th International Documentary Film Festival ArtDocFest (2020–2021), and was featured in a special charitable screening for parents who experienced perinatal loss, organized by the “Light in Hands” Foundation.

MARTHA IS IN AUGUST
A deeply intimate documentary exploring loss, motherhood, and resilience in the aftermath of perinatal grief.
Hospital Clown
Within the rigid structure of a hospital, moments of play become a form of care.
The film observes a clown working in a children’s oncology ward, where humor and presence create fragile spaces of relief amid illness.
Hospital Clown (2020) is a short documentary by Angelina Podorozhnaya that explores the power of empathy, presence, and emotional care within hospital environments.
For many people, a hospital is a place associated with fear and sadness. For children especially, it can feel overwhelming and isolating. Within this reality, a hospital clown named Lerika brings light into the children’s oncology department at Kashirka, offering laughter, attention, and moments of relief. Through her daily visits, she helps young patients reconnect with joy and the outside world, even in the most difficult circumstances.
The film observes the quiet but essential work of hospital clowns and highlights the importance of emotional support in pediatric care. It reflects on how small gestures of humanity can transform experiences of illness into moments of connection and dignity.
The documentary participated in the International Human Rights Film Festival “Stalker” (2020).
HOSPITAL CLOWN
A documentary about empathy and emotional care, following a hospital clown bringing light and humanity to children in oncology treatment.
The Legalized Pain
After divorce, safety becomes uncertain and violence takes new forms.
The film follows women confronting systemic abuse and legal indifference, exposing how control persists beyond separation.
The Legalized Pain (2019) is a documentary film by Angelina Podorozhnaya that explores the systemic issue of family kidnapping and the vulnerability of women after divorce in contemporary Russia.
The film follows the stories of several women — Alina, Olga, Marina, Natalia, Alena, and Vesta — whose dreams of love and family are replaced by fear and danger. After divorce, they find themselves in situations where their children are taken or withheld, exposing a deeply rooted and often overlooked social problem. Through their testimonies, the film reveals how personal tragedy intersects with legal and institutional failures, leaving many women without protection or recourse.
The documentary sheds light on domestic injustice, gender inequality, and the struggle for basic rights and safety, giving voice to experiences that are often silenced or ignored.
The film was screened in the competition program at the 13th International Documentary Film Festival ArtDocFest (2019) and received the Special Prize of the Canadian Embassy at the 25th International Human Rights Film Festival “Stalker” (2019), as well as the Special Prize of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation at the 6th International Film Festival “8 Women” (2020). It was also broadcast on the independent channel Dozhd (TV Rain) and German broadcaster OstWest.
THE LEGALIZED PAIN
A documentary exposing the hidden crisis of family kidnapping and the vulnerability of women after divorce in Russia.
Unfreedom
Domestic space becomes a site of control and endurance.
An observational account of women confronting violence, addiction, and loss — where the possibility of safety remains uncertain.
Unfreedom (2021) is a documentary film by Angelina Podorozhnaya that examines domestic violence and systemic violations of women’s rights in the North Caucasus.
Set against the backdrop of Dagestan, where thousands of domestic violence cases are officially registered, the film follows four women who share deeply personal testimonies of survival. Their stories include experiences of severe physical abuse, raising a child with a disability, the loss of children in a fire, struggles with addiction, and the long and difficult process of escaping violent environments to find safety in shelters. Through these narratives, the film reveals the emotional and physical cost of living within cycles of abuse, as well as the silence that often surrounds these realities.
The documentary offers an intimate and unflinching look at gender-based violence, emphasizing the urgent need for protection, support systems, and societal awareness for survivors.
The film was a participant in the competition program of the Women Documentary Film Festival “Sisterhood.doc”, and its screening supported fundraising for the “Sisters” Center, an organization dedicated to assisting survivors of sexualized violence.
UNFREEDOM
A powerful documentary on domestic violence and women’s rights in the North Caucasus, following stories of survival and escape from abuse.
The King-Sized Big Tasty
To exist openly is already a form of protest.
An intimate portrait of a queer woman confronting marginalization, self-destruction, and resilience — holding on to small rituals in the face of hostility.
The King-Sized Big Tasty (2020) is a short documentary by filmmaker Angelina Podorozhnaya that explores queer identity, resilience, and survival in contemporary Russia.
The film follows Dana, a 40-year-old woman who has lived through a suicide attempt, violence from homophobes, drug use, and emotional loss. Despite continuous threats, ridicule, and social pressure, she remains open about her sexual orientation and refuses to hide her identity. Her life is marked by both struggle and persistence, where moments of emotional relief are found in everyday rituals — including watching television series and the symbolic comfort of a “king-sized Big Tasty.”
Through an intimate observational approach, the film portrays the complexity of living openly in a hostile environment, highlighting themes of queer visibility, vulnerability, and quiet resistance.
The film was selected for the “Environment” program of the International Documentary Film Festival Artdocfest (2020–2021).
THE KING-SIZED BIG TASTY
A queer documentary about survival, identity, and resilience in the face of violence and social exclusion in contemporary Russia.
Left Behind
In the aftermath of suicide, absence reshapes those who stay.
An observational study of grief and stigma, where language falters and healing remains uncertain.
Left Behind (2025) is a documentary film by Angelina Podorozhnaya that explores grief, loss, and the emotional aftermath of suicide.
The film focuses on families and close friends who have lost loved ones to suicide. Through intimate personal testimonies, it follows their complex emotional journeys shaped by grief, guilt, silence, and the difficulty of speaking openly about a deeply stigmatized subject. The documentary reveals how loss continues to live within those left behind, long after the event itself, and how meaning and understanding are slowly rebuilt over time.
By giving voice to people who are rarely heard in public discourse, the film breaks the silence surrounding suicide and highlights the long and non-linear process of coping, healing, and continuing to live.
The documentary addresses themes of mental health, stigma, and the human need for compassion, support, and dialogue in the aftermath of tragedy.
LEFT BEHIND
A deeply intimate documentary about grief and the long emotional journey of those left after suicide loss.
Six Billboards
In a landscape shaped by propaganda, a quiet act becomes a public statement.
The film follows a local activist transforming everyday space into a site of resistance — where visibility itself becomes a risk.
Six Billboards (2022) is a short documentary by Angelina Podorozhnaya that explores civic resistance, personal courage, and the power of individual action in the face of political pressure.
The film follows an anti-war activist in the small village of Russko-Vysotskoye, who creates six large billboards inside his own shop as a form of silent protest. By placing them in public spaces, he challenges official narratives and propaganda, turning everyday space into a platform for expression and dissent. The documentary captures his quiet determination and the risks involved in speaking out, even in seemingly small ways.
Through an intimate observational approach, the film reflects on the role of individual agency in moments of social and political tension, showing how personal acts can become meaningful forms of resistance.
The film was a participant of the International Documentary Film Festival ArtDocFest (2023) and reached over 800,000 views on Current Time TV, a project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America.
SIX BILLBOARDS
A documentary about quiet resistance and civic courage, where one man turns everyday space into an act of protest against war and propaganda.
Diva: Titanic Won’t Sink
Between office hours and stage lights, identity unfolds as performance.
An observational portrait of a drag artist living through contrast — where glamour, vulnerability, and social pressure intersect.
Diva: Titanic Won’t Sink (2022) is a short documentary by Angelina Podorozhnaya exploring identity, performance, and queer expression in contemporary Russia.
The film follows Sasha, who works as an office manager during the day and transforms at night into the drag persona Doyana Cheeseburger. Through this duality, the documentary reveals a deeply personal journey of self-expression, visibility, and resistance within a society marked by discrimination and social pressure. The act of performance becomes both a creative escape and a form of survival.
Blending observational documentary with performative elements, the film highlights the courage required to live authentically in an environment where prejudice and hostility toward LGBTQ+ people remain widespread.
The film was a participant of the International Athens Film Festival “Free the Kitch” in 2022.
DIVA: TITANIC WON’T SINK
A queer documentary about identity and performance, following a drag transformation as an act of self-expression and survival in contemporary Russia.
The Wife
After more than fifty years together, love is redefined through illness.
An intimate portrait of a couple navigating ALS, where care, memory, and presence become the foundation of survival.
The Wife (2023) is a short documentary by Angelina Podorozhnaya about love, endurance, and life in the presence of a terminal illness.
The film follows Andrei and his wife Irina, who have spent more than fifty years together since their school days. Their shared life — filled with travel, sports, and raising three children — is profoundly changed when Andrei is diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable and progressive disease. The film observes how their relationship adapts to this new reality, revealing the quiet strength and unwavering devotion that sustain them.
Through an intimate and sensitive portrayal, the documentary explores themes of long-term partnership, caregiving, vulnerability, and emotional resilience in the face of irreversible illness.
The film was presented at the International Film Festival “Breaking Down Barriers”, dedicated to films about the lives of people with disabilities.
THE WIFE
A deeply intimate documentary about lifelong love and resilience in the face of ALS and irreversible illness.
He Has Gone to the Sea
After the loss of a child, memory becomes a space of ongoing presence.
Through intimate reflection, the film follows a mother navigating grief, where love, absence, and remembrance remain inseparable.
He Has Gone to the Sea (2023) is a short documentary by Angelina Podorozhnaya about grief, memory, and the long process of healing after the loss of a child.
The film follows a young mother whose son died from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Through intimate reflections and memories, she speaks about the unbearable experience of loss and the emotional reality of continuing life afterward. The documentary traces her gradual process of mourning, where pain, memory, and love coexist as she tries to rebuild meaning in everyday life.
Through a sensitive and observational approach, the film explores themes of parental grief, resilience, and the enduring presence of those who are no longer alive, revealing how memory becomes a way of survival.
The film has reached over 600,000 views on YouTube, resonating widely with audiences who have experienced similar loss.
HE HAD GONE TO THE SEA
A deeply emotional documentary about grief and healing after the loss of a child, exploring memory, love, and survival.
I work with documentary film and photography, exploring human experience through observation, emotion, and cinematic storytelling.
My practice moves between reality and crafted visual expression.

Angelina Podorozhnaya
Director & Photographer
+1-215-554-8788
angelinapodorozhnayawork@gmail.com
All text, photo, and video materials belong to their owners and are for demonstration purposes only. Please do not use them in commercial projects.
Made on
Tilda