PRODUCTION DESIGNER / SET DECORATOR

ABOUT 

Hi! My name is Maria, but friends call me Masha. I was born in Moscow, USSR, in 1991 into a family of filmmakers. Which probably explains why I watched at least one movie a day throughout my childhood — from Indiana Jones to early Disney cartoons. But one film changed my life forever.

When I was around eight, I found an unmarked VHS tape and asked my dad what it was. He said it was a famous adventure film, something like a western, about heroes fighting bandits. That sounded exciting enough, so I put it on. It was a faded, re-recorded VHS tape dubbed in English, with the first five minutes missing. The film itself was old and black and white. My dad sat beside me, translating parts of it into Russian while his beard tickled my ear.

Nearly thirty years later, it remains my favorite film. It showed me what cinema could be, what emotions it could evoke, and how profoundly it could change a person's life despite less-than-ideal viewing conditions. The film was Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa.

After graduating from a film school, I started working in 2014 as a Set Decorator, contributing to acclaimed films including Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless (Cannes Jury Prize, Academy Award nomination) and Kirill Serebrennikov's Leto (Best Production Design at the European Film Awards). In 2020, I became a Production Designer with Sputnik, directed by Egor Abramenko, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. My next film, Nika, directed by Vasilisa Kuzmina, premiered at SXSW in 2022. Since then, I have worked on the upcoming A24 feature Altar and co-designed Minotaur by Zvyagintsev, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2026.

I'm based in LA and, when I'm not busy with a production, I love walking around the city with my tiny film camera, capturing everyday life and telling stories through visual language. This, along with making films, is my way of showing the world how I see it — and of making sense of it.

AGENT / ICONIC

features

Devin Mann / devin@iconictalentagency.com 

Luke Mindlin / luke@iconictalentagency.com

commercials

Vanessa De Vargas / vanessa@iconictalentagency.com

DIRECT / maria.slavina.pd@gmail.com