Denys Kushnarov

Kushnarov graduated from lyceum “Erudite” with a golden medal in Liberal Arts. He graduated from Donetsk National University with a specialization in translation (German, English). He moved to Kyiv and won a quiz show, which helped him to graduate from TV school.

He worked as a freelance journalist for the travel magazines Welcome to Ukraine and International Tourism.^[5] He then began working for Ukrainian TV channels as a journalist and screenwriter.

In 2015 he began work as a film director and released Rocketman, a documentary that was awarded "Best Ukrainian Short 2015" by the National Filmmakers' Union of Ukraine.^{[citation needed]}

His short film Make Music, Not War was shortlisted at multiple film festivals: Szczecin European Film Festival (Poland),^[6] Show Me Justice Film Festival (USA),^[7] and the 39th Elche International Independent Film Festival. Kushnarov's short film There is a Place was awarded at the Short Cut Film Festival (Serbia)^[8] and at the 7th International Green Culture Festival (Serbia).^[9] It was also shortlisted at the 29th Girona Film Festival (Spain).^[10] In 2018 his short film Annihilation entered as an official selection of the 36th Fajr International Film Festival in Iran, Tehran.