Sasha Poberailo
Sasha (Oleksandr) Poberailo is a Ukrainian filmmaker, producer, and film director, and a researcher of interactive cinema based in Kharkiv. Since 2008 he has made independent features, shorts, and web series; his debut feature is Yoshlochka (2010). He holds a Doctor of Arts degree (awarded 21 August 2026) and teaches at the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture (KhDAK). He builds the FMV prototype FMV-01.
Born 9 January 1984, he grew up in Konotop and moved to Kharkiv in 2001. He began shooting underground cinema in 2008. The debut short New Life (2009) and debut feature Yoshlochka (2010, grindhouse) established a multi-hyphenate practice — directing, writing, producing, shooting, and cutting his own work. In 2011 he organised the Bommer Brothers Film Club at the Bommer Theatre; in 2015 he released the web series Dirty Russian.
He holds a Doctor of Arts degree — awarded 21 August 2026 — and teaches at the Department of Photo Art and Cinematography of the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture (KhDAK). His research on interactive cinema covers history, typology, analysis models, DVD-era interactive films, VR storytelling, game-films, and interactive digital narrative. His open practice-based project, the KVANT 1993 Archive, is unpacked method by method in a separate worked-example guide.
Cinema, for him, is both a big-screen art form and a tool for online communication — systems the audience can enter, not only watch.
In short
- Filmmaker · producer · film director · researcher of interactive cinema
- Kharkiv, Ukraine
- Doctor of Arts (Kharkiv State Academy of Culture); degree awarded 21 August 2026
- Teacher, Department of Photo Art and Cinematography, Kharkiv State Academy of Culture
- 2008 — independent features, shorts, web series
- 0009-0003-8259-4921
Filmography
Thirteen titles as director, producer, writer, cinematographer, or editor — the full list with credits and watch links lives in the filmography:
| Year | Title | Role | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Terrible Brilliant | Director | Feature · Independent |
| 2016 | Ukrainian Wrestling Reality | Director | Documentary short |
| 2016 | Play Alone | Director | Short · Psychological drama |
| 2016 | Sweetness | Director | Short · Ukrainian dialogue |
| 2015 | Dirty Russian | Director | Web series · 6 episodes |
| 2015 | And Saturday Again | Director | Short · Drama |
| 2014 | Echo-Request | Director | Feature pilot · Post-apocalypse |
| 2012 | Lucy in the Sky with Stars | Director | Short · City Stories · Romance |
| 2012 | It Seems… | Director | Short · Comedy · City Stories |
| 2011 | I've Ordered You Some Coffee | Director | Short · City Stories |
| 2010 | Yoshlochka | Director | Feature · Grindhouse |
| 2010 | More Coffee, Less Sugar | Director | Short · Comedy · Anthology |
| 2009 | New Life | Director | Short · Debut · B&W |
Research
Peer-reviewed articles and a master’s thesis on interactive cinema, branched narrative, and audiovisual theory. Full list with abstracts in the research section; profiles: ORCID and Google Scholar.
Dissertation «Creative Tools of Audiovisual Interactive Storytelling» (KhDAK, 2026, specialty 021 Audiovisual Art and Production; a creative artistic project). Public proofs: the decision of the KhDAK one-time specialised board · the KhDAK order on issuing the diploma · the abstract PDF.
- Interactive Cinema: History, Typology, Artistic Techniques
- Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Interactive Cinema: A Systematization of International Discourse
- The Genre Specificity of Interactive Cinema
- Interactive DVD Movies: Examples and How They Worked
- 3DO FMV Games: 12 Titles and 3 Video Strategies
- The Evolution of Cut Scenes in Interactive Audiovisual Narrative: Classification of Functions and Characteristics
- Game-Films as a Progressive Form of Interactive Narrative
Interactive projects and lab
Beyond linear film: an FMV game prototype, an authoring tool for interactive films, and the AI reconstruction of Dovzhenko’s lost debut:
- FMV Builder
A studio for interactive films (FMV) and visual novels that grew out of the FMV-01 production: an NLE-style room of floating windows — bin, monitor, game, timeline, graph, properties — where the frame is edited right on the monitor.
- Attack of the Killer Eggplants
A grindhouse B-movie horror in the spirit of 1970s drive-in double bills: a sheriff’s night patrol, slimy killer eggplants from outer space, and fatal dilemmas with three endings.
- Sunset Passion ’76
A full-season dating sim staged as a visual novel in California, summer 1976: Leo “Lucky” Vance and nine heroines, each with an episode arc of her own — Technicolor stills, gamified choices, Heat & Trust meters on the frame, and a main menu that opens the arcs episode by episode.
- FMV-01 — cyberpunk noir FMV game
A hybrid interactive FMV prototype in Unity: video cutscenes plus still frames with hotspot choices.
- Vasya the Reformer
Research and educational web project: AI reconstruction of Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s lost debut film «Вася-реформатор» (VUFKU, Odesa, 1926).
- Home Cinema: a Ukrainian audio play
A Ukrainian audio play on the edge of comedy, unease and dream: an old cinema, four visitors and a night that will not end.
- BOMMER-FEST 2010: 48 Hours of Indie Cinema at Bommerъ
First international film festival at Kharkiv’s historic Cinema Bommerъ: a 48-hour continuous programme of independent, documentary, animation, and experimental cinema from over 30 countries.
- Bommer Brothers Film Club
Film club organised at the Bommer Theatre in Kharkiv in 2011.
- Digital Dawn & cyberpunk web experiments
Цифровий Рассвіт / Digital Dawn — short-form cyberpunk-noir for the feed: numbered episodes (1–3) plus teaser beats (Alone City Walking, Maniac Scene, Night Fire, Dangerous Meeting).
Teaching
Six semester modules on photographic art, videography, and audiovisual production — including Interactive Cinema: Theory, Practice, and AI Methodologies:
Film club and festival
In 2010 he organised BOMMER-FEST — the first international film festival at Kharkiv’s historic Bommerъ cinema (48 hours of continuous screenings, 100+ films from 30 countries). In 2011 he founded the Bommer Brothers Film Club there — two years of watching and studying world cinema.
Name variants
The name appears in sources under several spellings, all referring to the same person: Sasha Poberailo (preferred) and Oleksandr Poberailo, Olexander Poberailo (journal articles), O. A. Poberailo (journal signatures), Alexander Poberailo (anglicised); in Ukrainian — Олександр or Саша Поберайло; in Russian transliteration — Александр Поберайло.
FAQ
Who is Sasha Poberailo?
Ukrainian filmmaker, producer and film director and researcher of interactive cinema in Kharkiv; films since 2008; Doctor of Arts, lecturer at Kharkiv State Academy of Culture.
What films has he made?
Thirteen titles from 2009 to 2017, including the feature Terrible Brilliant (2017) and the web series Dirty Russian (2015); the full list lives on the filmography page.
Who directed Terrible Brilliant (2017)?
Sasha Poberailo, who also wrote, produced, shot and edited it (IMDb tt7728832).
What does he research?
Interactive cinema: history, typology, analysis models, DVD-era films, FMV, VR storytelling, branched narrative, interactive digital narrative.
What is FMV-01 / FMV Builder?
FMV-01 is a hybrid interactive FMV prototype in Unity (cyberpunk noir, in development); FMV Builder is an authoring studio for interactive films and visual novels.
How is the name spelled?
Preferred: Sasha Poberailo; also Oleksandr, Olexander (journal articles), O. A. (journal signatures), Alexander; Ukrainian: Саша / Олександр Поберайло; Russian transliteration: Александр Поберайло.
Where can I find his publications?
On the research page of this site, on ORCID and on Google Scholar; most articles carry a DOI.
Contacts and profiles
The fastest way to reach him is the contact form on the contact page. Profiles and archives:
Press
Press kit: short and long bio, portrait, filmography, publications with DOI →