Zwischen uns ist jetzt Krieg. Anna Melikova talks with Matthias Schwartz

Anna Melikova was born in Crimea. She studied in Kyiv and lived in Moscow until 2017 before moving to Berlin. The Russian war against Ukraine has radically changed her familial and private relationships. Childhood friendships break apart, love turns into hate, and even her own father becomes increasingly estranged. A private life outside the political is no longer possible—to position oneself towards Ukraine and Russia results in an ever-present examination of thoughts and feelings, of decisions and dreams. But how does on write on all that? At the KVOST, Anna Melikova reads excerpts from her debut novel Ich ertrinke in einem fliehenden See [I am drowning in a fleeing lake], followed by a discussion with Matthias Schwartz (ZfL) on her role as an author and critic, on her journalistic and auto-fictional writing, as well as on her life between two worlds.

Anna Melikova is an author, screenwriter, film curator, and film critic. She was born in 1984 in Yevpatoria, grew up in Crimea, and studied German philology in Kyiv. She is the program director of both the film festival 2morrow and the Documentary Film Center in Moscow. Since 2017, she lives in Berlin. She wrote the screenplay for Grand Jeté (directed by Isabelle Stever, premiered at the Berlinale 2022). Since fall 2022, she is part of the selection committee of Berlinale Panorama. She currently holds a scholarship at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin where she works on her auto-fictional debut novel.

A cooperation between KVOST – Kunstverein Ost and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung.

Fig. above: © Masha Pryven.