enCAST.pro
Actors (m/f), 20-27, Ukrainian / Russian spkrs, for roles in an Short Film to be shot in Moldova
Casting Overview
THAW is an independent short film and academic thesis production by a Turin-based independent film production company, produced under NABA Milan.
Set in a nearly abandoned village on the edge of a war zone in the last days of winter, THAW follows a young couple expecting their first child as they prepare to flee — until the baby arrives first, during a blackout, in a night lit only by phone torches. The film explores how ordinary people build a life and a family in the middle of something none of them chose — an intimate drama of love, language, and fragile joy, set against a closing war.
Shooting location: Copăceni, Sîngerei District, Moldova.
Shooting dates: January 2027, 5 shooting days.
Flat rate: €700 per role for the full shoot. Full travel, accommodation and meal expenses covered by the production.
Roles
f, 20-26, Caucasian, must speak native or fluent Ukrainian language.
Marjana (23). Pregnant with her first child, living in a war-torn village with her partner Ilja. Young, impulsive, and deeply emotional — she acts before she speaks, and everything she can't say out loud comes out as a gesture instead. Marjana carries the emotional and physical weight of the film: an unplanned, premature labour in the dark, followed by the fragile, fierce love of new motherhood under constant threat.
We're looking for an actress who can hold sustained physical and emotional intensity, and bring nuance to a character who says little but feels everything.
*Please submit a self-tape introduction in English, Ukrainian or Russian, followed by a short monologue or improvised piece spoken in Ukrainian.
You must be logged in to apply to this casting call.
m, 20-27, Caucasian, must speak native or fluent Russian.
Ilja (24). Works odd jobs on a village farm to support his young family, having fled his home to avoid conscription. Quiet, physical, and quietly overwhelmed — he shows love through action, not words, and freezes for a beat before he moves when fear hits. Ilja spends the film trying to hold his family together while feeling increasingly inadequate to the task; after the birth, an unspoken distance grows between him and Marjana, one the film never resolves with dialogue.
We're looking for an actor comfortable with restraint and silence, someone who can carry a scene through physicality and expression alone.
*Please submit a self-tape introduction in English or Russian, followed by a short monologue or improvised piece spoken in Russian.
You must be logged in to apply to this casting call.
