NICE LADIES

SYNOPSIS

Nice Ladies is a feature documentary about a team of elderly cheerleaders called ‘Nice Ladies’ from Kharkiv, who are combatting social prejudices while preparing to compete at the European Championship in the only available ‘25+’ category. The brutal Russian invasion spreads them apart and threatens their lives. We follow 62-year-old Sveta who flees to Amsterdam with her family. Will the Nice Ladies be able to reunite and regain space for self-fulfillment and, despite different experiences at times of war, find a common language again?

AMOUNT OF THE SUPPORT FOR FINALISATION: 75 000 €

European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films – Date of the decision : May 15th 2023

Mariia Ponomarova graduated from the Film Directing and Screenwriting department at Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television in 2013 with a cum laude diploma. She got her MA degree in Film Artistic Research at The Netherlands Film Academy in 2016. Mariia’s short films have been screened at national and international film festivals such as Vancouver IFF, Go Short ISFF, Sarajevo Film Festival, Molodist IFF, ArtDocFest, and many more. Her short documentary May 9th received the Grand-Prix at DokuMa Film Festival in 2016. Her debut as a creative producer for the full-length documentary Fragile Memory has been selected for the International Competition of Sheffield Doc/Fest, Krakow Film Festival and DocAviv. Nice Ladies will be her debut as a director for a full-length documentary. Mariia was selected to develop Nice Ladies at the ExOriente Film workshop and IDFAcademy.