Yuliia Kovalenko is a program director at Docudays UA IHRDFF, a film critic and PhD in cultural Studies. Yuliia has an academic background. She worked as a lecturer at the universities of Odesa, teaching theory and history of culture. In 2019, she joined the program department at Docudays UA, where she has been curating the DOCU/ART non-competitive program and other special programs. In 2023 she became a program director at Docudays UA. As an independent curator, she co-curated the program of Ukrainian cinema "Perspectives of Ukrainian Cinema" for Deutsche Kinemathek in 2022. As a film critic, she has publications in Ukrainian and international journals (Kino Raksti, KINO-KOLO, etc.) and runs her blog about cinema Kinotabs.com. She is a member of Ukrainian Film Critics Union and National Union of Journalists. Member of the selection team of Berlinale Forum 2023 and 2024.