Alisa Kovalenko is an award-winning Ukrainian documentary filmmaker based in Kyiv, a graduate of the documentary film directing program at the Karpenko-Kary National University in Kyiv and the Wajda School in Warsaw.
She is the director of Alisa in Warland (IDFA 2015), Home Games (Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018), and We Will Not Fade Away (Berlinale 2023), all of which have won numerous awards at international film festivals.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, she joined a volunteer combat unit and fought on the front lines. This experience formed the basis for her personal documentary My Dear Theo (CPH 2025), which won awards including Best Human Rights Documentary at Dokufest.
Kovalenko is also a survivor of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and a member of SEMA Ukraine, a survivor-led organization supporting those affected by war-related violence and advocates for survivor-centered justice.
Her experiences and human rights activism are reflected in the film Traces, which addresses war crimes and the voices of survivors. The film won the Panorama Audience Award for Documentary at the 2025 Berlinale and was screened at the world’s leading documentary festivals, including CPH, FIFDH, One World Prague, Hot Docs and Movies That Matter, where it received the Grand Jury Documentary Award, thereby paving the way for it to be considered for Oscar eligibility in the Best Feature-Length Documentary category.
