Ivana Todorović is a socially engaging short film director and lecturer from Belgrade, Serbia, once Yugoslavia.
Her 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 France, Serbia, Sweden, Kosovo, Italy, Canada, Greece, Russia, 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 in postproduction with a new short documentary film, editing a short essay documentary film and writing new short fiction film.
Education:
MA in Fiction Film at The Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Belgrade
Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies, The New School, New York City
BA in Ethnology and Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade
Awards:
2021
Best Narrative Short: When I’m at Home, LA Independent Woman Film Awards, LA
Best International Filmmaker: Ivana Todorovic, LA Independent Woman Film Awards, LA
Best Director award: Ivana Todorovic, Jelly Fest, American Film Institute, LA
Woman Film critics Award: When I’m at Home, Socially Relevant Film Festival, NYC
2020
Future Award: When I’m at Home, BHHIF festival, Paris
Best Woman Film: When I’m at Home, Independent Spirits Awards, Los Angeles
Honorable Mention: When I’m at Home, South Eastern European Film Festival, Los Angeles
Best Student Film: When I’m at Home, Shorts to the Point, Bucharest
Best Woman Achievement award for teamwork: When I’m at Home, Balkan New Film Festival, Stockholm
2013
Best Balkan Documentary Film: When I was a boy, I was a girl; Dokufest, Prizren, Kosovo
Best Short Documentary Film: When I was a boy, I was a girl; Thess International Shorts Film Festival, Greece
Best Short Documentary Film: When I was a boy, I was a girl; South Eastern European Film Festival, Los Angeles
SeeFest NO LIMIT AWARD: When I was a boy, I was a girl; South Eastern European Film Festival, Los Angeles
Best National Documentary Film: When I was a boy, I was a girl; Belgrade’s Documentary and Shorts Film Festival
2011
Audience Award: A Harlem Mother, Fear no Film, Utah Arts, USA
Audience Award Best Story Film Award: Rapresent; Film for Peace, Milano, Italy
2010
Best Documentary Film Profile: A Harlem Mother, Mixed Messages Film Festival, NYC
Honorable Mention: A Harlem Mother, Carolina Film And Video Film Festival in Greensboro, NC, USA
GRAND PRIX: A Harlem Mother, Videnie film Festival, Russia
2009
Best National Film Award: Rapresent; International Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade, Serbia
2007
Best Short Film Award: Everyday life of Roma children from Block 71; Human Rights Film Festival, Montreal
Special Mention: Everyday life of Roma children from Block 71; Ethnographic International film Festival, Belgrade
+ 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”