Firebird & Koschei the Deathless

Directed & Produced by: Irina Patkanian

Stage:
- Festival Premiere
Locations:
Updated: May 29, 2026
Project Type:
- Short
Project Style:
- Animated,
- Hybrid
Theme Subject:

Logline

Once upon a time in a faraway land, the evil king caged a magical creature, half-woman half-bird, demanding she makes him immortal like her.

Synopsis

FIREBIRD, adapted from an old Slavic fairytale by Irina Patkanian and Marion Schoevaert is an experimental short film with stop motion animation and documentary by a renowned Ukrainian photographer Maxim Dondyuk, shot during current Russian war in Ukraine.

ONCE UPON A TIME, the Father of the Motherland caught a Firebird and forced her to lay him and egg of immortality from his seed. Firebird lost her bird nature from this ordeal but not her magic. She settled in the

...

ONCE UPON TODAY, the now deathless the Father of the Motherland saw her magic creations on TikTok and waged a war against the country, where he thought she was hiding, to force her to marry him. At the wedding, Firebird has burned everything down. Everything, except the egg of immortal evil.

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Team

Irina Patkanian

Director & Producer

Team

Irina Patkanian

Director & Producer

Irina Patkanian is an award-winning filmmaker, a Fulbright scholar, a professor of film & media arts at Brooklyn College and the co-founder and artistic director of “In Parentheses,” a NYC based nonprofit film, theater & media arts company. Irina Patkanian makes hybrid (fiction/nonfiction) films questioning history with poetry, memory with animation, behavior with performance. Irina’s films have screened at 150+ film festivals worldwide, winning 30+ awards. Her work has been supported by fellowships and grants from NYSCA, NYFA, NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, Tow, Blaustein, Troy, FACE, Puffin and Jerome Foundations, as well as artist residencies at MacDowell and The Millay Arts; Ucross and the Art Studios of Key West; VCCA and Obermann Center for Humanities; Greywood Arts, Watershed Art Studios and Cowhouse in Ireland; Art House Holland and Villa Lena Foundation in Italy.

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Budget

This section includes information about this project.

Impact director film screenplay visual impact project doc independent doc director camera festival narrative cinema. Visual story narrative cinema impact producer visual production festival.

Grants & Awards

2022 NYSCA
2024 PSC CUNY
2023 Puffin Foundation

Our Ask

We produced the film ourselves with in-kind contributions and grants (NYSCA, CUNY). We are looking for producers / curators / programmers who can help the project find its home; mainstream or alternative streaming platforms, educational circuit or special screenings.

We are seeking:

Sales Agent,
Press Agent,
Festival Premiere,
Streaming Partner

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