Aliaksei Paluyan
Writer / Director
Belarus, Germany, France
Aliaksei Paluyan is a Belarusian filmmaker. He was born in Belarus in 1989 and moved to Germany in 2012 to study film and television directing at the Kassel Art Academy.
In 2019, his short film SEE DER FREUDE (LAKE OF HAPPINESS), premiered in Clermont-Ferrand and won numerous awards at international film festivals before being nominated for the European Film Award in the short film category in 2020 and longlisted for the Oscars in 2021.
His documentary debut COURAGE premiered at the 71st Berlinale in 2021 and was subsequently screened at major film festivals such as IDFA, Visions du Réel, CPH:DOX, HotDocs, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and Krakow IFF. The film was also longlisted for the 2022 Oscars.
From 2022 to 2024, Aliaksei Paluyan taught as a guest lecturer at the Thomas Bernhard Institute of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He is a member of the European Film Academy, founder of the Belarusian Independent Film Academy, and a graduate of Berlinale Talents (2022) and TorinoLab (2024).
Project
Incubator
Belarus, spring 2021. Maria (35) works in a furniture factory and has been trying to raise her daughter alone since her husband Viktor was arrested after protests against the regime. She needs a large sum of money to secure his release. Out of desperation, she decides to go to Ukraine to be a surrogate mother for a German couple. After undergoing artificial insemination in Kyiv, she retreats to the countryside with her daughter, hides her pregnancy, and claims that Viktor is working abroad. But shortly after the birth, war breaks out in Ukraine and the clinic in Kiev descends into chaos. Her contact person disappears, and Maria fears for the baby’s life. She flees toward the Polish border. During her escape, an unexpected bond with the child grows. When she finally gets in touch with the German couple, Maria faces the most difficult decision of her life: Does she give up the child or sacrifice her husband’s freedom?
