Born in the village of Runo in the Stavropol region of the USSR in 1980, Sasha Svirsky graduated as a painter and is a self-taught animator. In 2008, he began working as an independent director. Animation serves him as an artistic tool to unlock the potential of visual experiments as well as for philosophical narratives and essays. Since 2013, he has worked in collaboration with his wife, Nadya Svirskaia; since 2022, they have been based in Berlin. Unidentifizierte Unflugobjekte (UUO) is his first German-language film.
What was your starting point for „Unidentifizierte Unflugobjekte (UUO)“?
Having left Russia in 2022, after the Russian aggression against Ukraine began, we (with my partner Nadya Svirskaia) found ourselves in Berlin. I was faced with the need to adapt to another country and another language, while my own country seemed increasingly alien to me. On the other hand, Berlin is a unique city, distinct from the rest of the country. It often feels that being alien, hovering in uncertainty, and being unable to find firm ground is quite normal here. Having encountered all these shades of alienness and weirdness, loving some of them while hating others, I got a strong urge to express these mixed feelings.
Do you have a favorite moment in the film? Which one and why this one in particular?
If I need to choose one moment (which is hard), I would choose the final credits. This is the moment when everybody who has been involved in the film is supposed to be identified and placed in their corresponding boxes. And since the film is kind of about that, the credits naturally become an integral part of the film instead of just sticking to it in its very end.
What do you like about the short form?
I have never tried to make feature films, but I guess that longer films require a more solid and firm construction, while shorts can still remain fluid and agile in their structure. I love the possibilities that the short form gives for experimentation and improvisation.
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PRESS / REVIEWS / INTERVIEWS
„His latest, Unidentified Nonflying Objects (UNO) (2026), playing once again in the Shorts competition, is further proof of a style perfectly suited to today’s eternal feed: a man’s journey through bureaucracy, work alienation and a world filled with endless, unsortable information.“
review in Journey Into Cinema
Review and Interview in Deutsche Welle
„Его создатель Саша Свирский – художник-аниматор с уникальным, узнаваемым стилем. В его полуабстрактных фильмах на первое место выходит не нарратив, а поток художественных образов. Работая с текстурами, формами и цветами, он создает концептуальные пространства, где история рождается во взаимодействии визуальных элементов.“
article in Deutsche Welle
„With its fluid, imaginative forms and a collage-like, tactile feeling, UUO (UNO) invites reflection on the impermanence of control, the persistence of the unexpected, and the subtle, almost magical ways that disruption reshapes perception and understanding.“
review by Curation Hour
Berlinale Shorts 