ABOUT
ROXY TOPOROWYCH

Roxy Toporowych is an award-winning writer and director who specializes in authentic, “slice of life” character-driven stories.  Her films often center on female protagonists at pivotal moments in their lives, while weaving in the backdrop of world events. Roxy’s visual style is shaped by her background in set decoration, blending real locations with cinematic production design. She is an NYU Tisch alumni,  IFP Narrative Lab Directing Fellow, winner of the IFP/Gotham Award for Emerging Directors, a Fulbright Scholar partnered with Dovzhenko Studios in Kyiv and a recent fellow of the American Film Institute (AFI DWW+ 2024).

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Her narrative feature debut, Julia Blue, a love story between an aspiring photojournalist and a soldier haunted by war, was produced internationally with a fully Ukrainian cast and crew. Julia Blue was an official selection at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Cleveland International Film Festival and won Best Film awards at the Julien Dubuque and Female Eye Film Festivals. Roxy won the Special Jury Prize for Best Director in World Cinema at the Woodstock Film Festival and the Best Director Award at the Sonoma International Film Festival. In 2022, the film was named one of the top ten films about Ukraine by The Guardian (UK). Her recent AFI short film, Ukrainian Dance Movie, premiered at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival and won the Best Short Film Award at the inaugural Colofilm Festival in January 2025.

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Previously, Roxy directed the dance documentary feature FOLK! (HotDocs/East Silver Markets) and the comedy web series 2ND AND 9TH. She also created the show Awkward Dance Party for the Tribeca Film Festival and was a finalist for SeriesFest and Almanack Writers Labs for her comedy pilot series The Party. Roxy has served as a producer on documentaries for Hulu, HBO, and Tribeca Enterprises, often drawing on her documentary background to inform her fly-on-the-wall cinematic approach.

In addition to directing, Roxy has had a long-standing career as a union set decorator, with credits including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, West Side Story, His Three Daughters, and the upcoming Song Sung Blue, starring Hugh Jackman.

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Her on-set crew experience, watching directors such as Steven Spielberg and Adam McKay, as well as countless talented TV directors, has made her to pivot to full-time directing a natural one.

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