PRODUCTION DESIGNER / SET DECORATOR

ABOUT 

Hi! My name is Maria, but friends call me Masha. I was born in 1991 in Moscow, USSR.

When I was seven, my father introduced me to Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. The film was a dubbed version of the Japanese original, recorded on a faded VHS tape borrowed from his American friend. Unfortunately, the first five minutes of the movie were missing, and my father had to whisper the English translations into Russian. Despite the suboptimal viewing conditions, the experience was a turning point in my life, igniting my passion for film. I have dedicated myself to this passion for 25 years now, and Seven Samurai remains one of my all-time favorite movies.

I started my career in 2014 as a set decorator, working with the brilliant PD Andrey Ponkratov. Together, we contributed to the production of acclaimed films, such as Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless, which won the Cannes Jury Prize and received nominations for both the Golden Globe and the Oscar, and Kirill Serebrennikov's Leto, which was part of the Cannes Official Selection and won the Best Production Design award at the EFA in 2018.

A few years ago, I took a leap of faith and decided to become a Production Designer myself. My debut in this role was on Sputnik, directed by Egor Abramenko, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in 2020. My next film, Nika, directed by Vasilisa Kuzmina, premiered in the Narrative Program at SXSW in 2022.

Being a designer for films is an extremely challenging, but also one of the most breathtaking jobs in the world. I can’t imagine myself on any other path. I'm continuing to delve into the world of cinematic language and create new films and new stories.

AGENT / ICONIC TALENT AGENCY

features / DEVIN MANN / devin@iconictalentagency.com

commercials / VANESSA DE VARGAS / vanessa@iconictalentagency.com

DIRECT / maria.slavina.pd@gmail.com

+1 323 348 7223