Sergii Polezhaka is a Ukrainian director, producer, and documentary photographer.
After years of experience in visual journalism and graduating from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in 2016, he co-founded New Cave Media studio, where he transitioned to immersive 360/VR storytelling as a director and producer. In early 2017, he directed “No Hero,” the first 360° web-doc in Ukraine. Sergii managed his company while producing new projects for media outlets such as RFE/RL and The New York Times, NGOs including UNICEF, GIZ, WWF, and commercial clients like Mitsubishi, Motorola Ukraine, and Array Inc.
In 2017, New Cave Media received a Journalism 360 Challenge Grant for their project “Aftermath VR: Euromaidan,” where Sergii directed an interactive storyline. The project tells the story of the cold morning of 20/02/2014 when police forces killed 47 protesters in Kyiv, which was a turning point of the EuroMaidan protests. “Aftermath VR” won the “Open Frame Award” at goEast Film Festival and was selected for the Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2019.
In 2021, Sergii transitioned into the field of Product IT as a team leader. He managed the Content R&D team at the startup Headway, where he launched and scaled the content production for new educational products.
In 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sergii returned to war journalism, primarily collaborating with media from the Axel Springer group. As an independent storyteller, Sergii is currently working on the visual project ‘Naive Ukrainian Gardens,’ where he portrays the ongoing war through the lens of Ukrainian gardens, exploring the intricate relationships between private and collective responsibility, memory, and trauma.
