Introducing "Rowanberry" — a short film inspired by Slavic folklore and a deeply personal fear of loss.

🎬 About the Project

Rowanberry is a 19-minute short film inspired by Slavic folklore and a deeply personal fear of loss. Created as a thesis project by final-year film student Anastasia Kostyukova at NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) in Milan, the film merges poetic horror with emotional realism. It explores the blurry line between life and death, perception and truth.

The story follows a mother whose son mysteriously returns after disappearing in the mountains. Though he seems unchanged, she senses something is deeply wrong. As illness spreads through their household, she becomes convinced he is not truly her son — but something else entirely.
It’s a haunting portrait of instinct, grief, and love confronting the unknown.

💔 The Characters — The Heart of Rowanberry

At the core of Rowanberry is a family fractured by grief and mystery. These characters are not only the soul of the story — they are its breath, its silence, its unraveling. Each one brings their own truth to the film’s emotional tapestry.  

• Maria (40)
  “Have you all gone blind? This is IT who has infected us, this creature!”
• Amina (14)
  “Stop it, Mama! Brother did nothing wrong! I need him!”
• Ivan (19)
  “All this time I imagined how I would meet her after this long separation... But now, now she looks at me as if I'm not her son at all...”
• Dmytro (45)
  “You’re raving, Maria... Illness has clouded your mind.”

✨ Artistic Vision

The visual language of Rowanberry draws from the slow-burning tension of Robert Eggers’ The Witch, the philosophical stillness of Andrei Tarkovsky, and the symbolic mysticism of Sergei Parajanov.
Shot in stark natural landscapes and shaped by noir and folk horror, the film explores:

• Ritual, silence, and atmosphere over spectacle
• The spiritual weight of grief and the surreal nature of loss
• Folkloric archetypes reimagined through modern emotion

We aim not to imitate, but to honor these cinematic giants — creating something deeply personal, grounded, and resonant.

🎓 Who We Are

We are a team of emerging filmmakers, all current students or recent graduates:

• 🎥 Director & Writer:Anastasia Kostyukova
• 🧠 Producer:Simone Perali
• 🎼 Composer:  Matteo Ursoleo (Spotify)
• 📷 Director of Photography:Ilona Järvelä — IMDB profile

We believe in meaningful cinema. Rowanberry is our collective leap into the world as creators, and we’re inviting you to be part of that journey.

🌍 Why We Need Your Help

We are planning to shoot in the remote village of Rateče, Slovenia, surrounded by breathtaking alpine nature that will give the film its soul. But creating atmospheric, high-quality cinema — even on a student level — requires resources. Your support will help us cover:

• Transportation of crew and gear to Slovenia
• Accommodation for the cast and crew
• Technical equipment for filming

Every euro helps us bring this story to life — not just as a film, but as a shared experience between artist and audience.

🕯️ Timeline

• Filming: September 2025
• Post-production: Autumn 2025
• Final Cut: December 2025

The script is already receiving attention and is currently participating in the WrittenBy Festival on FilmFreeway.
Once completed, Rowanberry will be submitted to key European festivals such as:

• Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland)
• Encounters Short Film Festival (UK)
• IndieLisboa (Portugal)
• Uppsala Short Film Festival (Sweden)
• Trieste Film Festival (Italy)

🎥 Support Independent Cinema

Your support means more than funding. It’s belief — in storytelling, in emerging voices, in art that challenges and connects.
Together, we can create a film that lingers, that speaks in silence, that dares to look into the darkness.