Dir. Darya Zhuk

Feat. Director of Photography Carolina Costa
and Natalie Farrey (VICE)

William M. Lowman Concert Hall
Saturday 21st, September
11.30 – 1.30 PM

RSVP

Set a few years after Belarus gained independence in 1990, this vibrant debut feature follows the path of young  Evelina, who dreams of moving to Chicago the birth place of house music.  However, obtaining a US visa proves a difficult endeavour and, determined to flee the country, the young woman takes the risk of buying a letter of employment from the black market. Depicting a nation anticipating a brighter future, Crystal Swan is a story about a woman and her country, where feelings of self and belonging are yet to be defined.

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DARYA ZHUK

Belarus-born award-winning film director Darya Zhuk unexpectedly discovered filmmaking while studying Economics at Harvard. Today her short films premiered at SXSW, Tarkovsky, Oaxaca, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Koroche, Santa Fe Independent film festivals just to name a few. She is a graduate of Columbia University MFA program in New York City.  Crystal Swan, feature debut, opened East of the West competition in Karlovy Vary IFF and won a Grand Prix at Odessa International Film Festival. Darya lives and creates between Minsk and Brooklyn.

CAROLINA COSTA

Selected as one of American Cinematographer’s Rising Stars of 2018, award-winning Brazilian cinematographer Carolina Costa has traveled the world photographing critically-acclaimed feature films, documentaries, shorts and commercials. Costa most recently shot director Minhal Baig’s coming-of-age story Hala, and Tara Miele’s upcoming drama Wander Darkly.

Last year, Costa handled second-unit cinematography for Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria. She also lensed three-time Oscar winning producer James L. Brooks’ documentary Icebox. Costa studied at the University of the Arts, London, where she was mentored by Sue Gibson, the renowned first female president of the British Society of Cinematographers.

NATALIE FARREY

Natalie Farrey is the Head of Film at VICE Studios, where she oversees the development, production & completion of the films from a creative perspective. VICE Studios’ current slate includes The Report, The Mountain, Judy & Punch, Climax and FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, among others. 

Before landing at VICE, Natalie was a producer to Spike Jonze for over a decade. During her time with Spike, she had the pleasure of helping him turn his ideas into films, commercials, music videos and plays. Most notably, Natalie was executive producer of the feature film “Her,” which was nominated for five Academy Awards, and subsequently won for Best Original Screenplay. She also produced Spike’s short film “My Mutant Brain” for Kenzo Parfums, starring Margaret Qualley. Additionally, her credits include the feature film “Where the Wild Things Are,” the robot love story “I’m Here,” and the short film “Scenes from the Suburbs,” which was inspired by the music of Arcade Fire.

VICE STUDIOS

VICE Studios is a global television and feature film production facility from VICE Media, encompassing the development, production, financing and distribution of multi-platform content for audiences globally. With outposts in the US, UK, EMEA, Latin America and Canada, VICE Studios produces quality scripted, entertainment and factual formats.

A natural extension of VICE’s bolstering content offering, VICE Studios launched in 2017, with the intention of furthering VICE Media’s expansive library of news, documentary and entertainment programming. To date, VICE TV and Film projects have been recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Peabody Awards, Venice International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Lions, British Journalism Awards, British Media Awards, Broadcast Digital Awards, and AOPs amongst others.Boasting a curated slate of culturally focused films and television, the current slate features the Harmony Korine helmed comedy, The Beach Bum, starring Matthew McConaughey; Scott Z. Burns’ The Report starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening; black-metal feature Lords Of Chaos starring Rory Culkin; out of Australia, Mia Wasikowska drama Judy and Punch; In the UK Satanic Verses (BBC); French visionary Gaspar Noé’s Climax; Chris Smith’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened; and Diego Osorno’s docu-series 1994.