**Dasha Melnik: Small Person in a Big World - FilmInk (Damien Spiccia)**\
[**https://www.filmink.com.au/dasha-melnik-small-person-in-a-big-world/**](https://www.filmink.com.au/dasha-melnik-small-person-in-a-big-world/)\
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**With her short film *Morning Afternoon Night*, Russian born, Perth based filmmaker Dasha Melnik has captured the emotional life of a new immigrant.** 

**You studied as a cinematographer, and this is the first film that you’ve directed. How did it all come together?**

“Around the time when I was graduating, my mum died, and it was a big loss and a big transformation moment for me as well. She died in Russia, and the only thing that I had left of her here \[in Australia\] was her messages on my phone. I listened to them again and again and again. And I thought, I really want to show this transition when you’re in a different country and you’re actually not there with somebody who you loved most. And then my friend Anna \[Martianova\], she plays Marta in the film – she’s not a professional actor, so this was her first acting experience …”\
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**Really? She’s brilliant.**

“Oh, she’s fantastic. And when she came here from Russia only four years ago, her English is not perfect, she is an artist, and she started to study at TAFE – all things that reminded me about myself when I came here, 13 years ago. And of course, I feel different now, but she was at the stage where she was between these two worlds. So, yeah, this is where things came together, my personal story, her personal story, and I thought, wow, what a great director’s opportunity to express all your feelings, all your grief in a little drama...