Ivana Todorović is a filmmaker and lecturer from Belgrade, Serbia.
She made her first short documentary film while earning her BA in Ethnology and Anthropology at University of Belgrade. After a one month course on documentary films at Ateliers Varan in Belgrade, she went on to get a Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies at The New School in New York City. She later received an MA in Fiction Film at The Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Belgrade.
Her intimate and emotional films deal with issues involving gender and sexuality, homelessness, the education of Roma children, and youth gun violence. Her newest films deal with sexual abuse in the family and the grief over the death of a loved one. Ivana’s films have been screened at prestigious film festivals worldwide, including at the 63rd Berlin Film Festival – Berlinale Shorts, IFF Rotterdam, the Traverse City Film Festival, Palm Springs Shorts. She has won awards in Serbia, Kosovo, Italy, Canada, Greece, The UK and the US. Her films have appeared at venues such as the Anthology Film Archive, the Cultura Contemporiana Barcelona, and on the New York Times homepage.
Ivana teaches master classes and practical seven days documentary film workshops at universities, film festivals, and institutions worldwide. She was an invited speaker at the TEDxAUK program in Pristina, Kosovo.
She was chosen to be on the selection committee for the 62. Belgrade Short Films and Documentary Film Festival-Martovski; German International Ethnographic Film Festival; STIFF from Rijeka, Croatia, and XVIII Ethnographic International Film Festival from Belgrade, Serbia. She served as a jury member at Dokufest, Prizren, Kosovo; Ethnofilm in Rovinj, Croatia, and Europe in Heart, Heinrich-Boll Stiftung, Brussels.
She was selected as an artist in the 2010 Immigrant Artist Program at the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2015, she was chosen as an artist in residence at Saary Residence in Finland.
Currently, she is developing a feature length documentary film, producing a short essay documentary film “Woman of the People’s Front” and editing a short documentary film “Asylum”.
Awards
- 2013 BEST BALKAN DOCUMENTARY FILM at Dokufest, Prizren, Kosovo for “When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- 2013 BEST CINEMATIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD at Thess International Shorts Film Festival, Greece for “When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- 2013 BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM at South Eastern European Film Festival, Los Angeles for “When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- 2013 SEEfest NO LIMIT AWARD, a special category recognizing a film from the region that deals with the subject of LGBT human rights for “When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- 2013 BEST NATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM at Belgrade’s Documentary and Shorts Film Festival, Serbia for “When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- 2011 AUDIENCE AWARD at Fear no Film, Utah Arts Film Festival for “A Harlem Mother”
- 2011 AUDIENCE AWARD BEST STORY FILM AWARD at FILM FOR PEACE Festival, Italy for “Rapresent”
- 2010 BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM PROFILE at the Mixed Messages Film Festival, New York for “A Harlem Mother”
- 2010 HONORABLE MENTION at Carolina Film And Video Film Festival in Greensboro, NC for “A Harlem Mother”
- 2010 GRAND PRIX award at the Videnie film Festival in Russia for “A Harlem mother”
- 2009 BEST NATIONAL AWARD at International Festival of Ethnological Film in Belgrade, Serbia for “Rapresent”
- 2007 BEST SHORT FILM AWARD at Human Rights Film Festival, Montreal for “Everyday Life of Roma Children from Block”
- 2007 SPECIAL MENTION at Ethnographic International film Festival, Belgrade for “ Everyday life of Roma children from Block 71”
+ 100 Festival Screening
- Berlinale Shorts competition, screening of “ When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- Sarajevo Film Festival, screening of “When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- Traverse City Film Festival, screening of “A Harlem Mother”
- Palm Springs Int. ShortFest, screening of “A Harlem Mother”
- Rotterdam International Film Festival, screening of “Rapresent”
- Milano Film Festival, screening of “Everyday life of Roma children from Block 71”
+ 20 Place of Culture
- Frauen Museum Hittisiau, Austria, screening of “ When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- Sarajevo Film Festival, screening of “When I was a boy, I was a girl”
- International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, screening of “Rapresent” and “Everyday Life of Roma Children from Block 71”
- Maysles Cinema, NYC screening “A Harlem Mother”
- DCTV: A HARLEM MOTHER and BEYOND BULLETS shorts, NYC
- Anthology Film Archive , New York Woman in Film and Television, screening of “A Harlem Mother”
- Centre de Cultura Contemporiana de Barcelona, screening of “Rapresent” and “Everyday Life of Roma Children from Block 71”