Eugene Kotlyarenko is a Ukrainian-American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. His feature writing-directing work includes 0s & 1s (2011), A Wonderful Cloud (2015), Wobble Palace (2018), We Are (2020) and Spree (2020). Kotlyarenko was born in Odesa to a Jewish-Ukrainian family. He grew up in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and on Long Island, attending Columbia University before moving to Los Angeles. In 2010, He made his directorial debut, SkyDiver (Instructional Video #4: Preparation for Mission), starring Kate Lyn Sheil, Lawrence Michael Levine, and Sophia Amoruso. The next year, He co-wrote, edited, and directed 0s & 1s, starring Morgan Krantz, Jeremy Blackman, Matty Cardarople, and Ahna O'Reilly. In 2012, He wrote, starred, and directed Feast of Burden, premiered at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. In 2015, A Wonderful Cloud, starring Kate Lyn Sheil, John Ennis, and himself, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival. In 2018, Kotlyarenko wrote, starred, and directed Wobble Palace starring Dasha Nekrasova, Jack Kilmer, and himself. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival to positive reviews with New York Times, critic Teo Bugbee praising the film as "[...] a sendup of broke-artist types that shimmers with abashed affection". A review on The Playlist by Lena Wilson echoed this sentiment, writing that it: "[...] perfectly reproduces a subculture, both visually and narratively". In 2020, Kotlyarenko wrote, produced, starred, and directed Spree starring Joe Keery, Sasheer Zamata, David Arquette, Kyle Mooney, Lala Kent and Mischa Barton, the film was executive produced by Drake. It premiered on January 24, 2020, at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival as part of the NEXT category, and was released theatrically and via video on demand in the United States on August 14, 2020, by RLJE Films. The same year, he wrote and directed We Are, starring Dasha Nekrasova, Keith Poulson, and Vishwam Velandy. In 2024, He wrote, starred, and directed The Code. It stars Dasha Nekrasova, Peter Vack, and Ivy Wolk, it premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival. He has executive produced films such as How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Pet Shop Days, Rotting in the Sun, and the upcoming The Carpenter's Son. He has also produced films such as Harka, Magic Farm, Candelabra, and the upcoming Born to Kill.
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Biography from TMDB.
- January 1, 1986 (40)
- Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]
- Producer, director, actor, writer and editor
- 15 on Motif · 35 credits in all
What are Eugene Kotlyarenko's films like?
Across their 9 Motif titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Society and Self.
Genres
Their Motif films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
A split, not a type: Ironic 4 · Wry 1 · Earnest 4
Light 1 · Serious 4 · Dark 4
Grounded 2 · Stylized 5 · Heightened 2
A split, not a type: Gentle 1 · Charged 3 · Intense 5
Steady 0 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 6
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 3 · Funny 1
Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 5 · Relentless 1
Casual 2 · Engaged 4 · Full focus 3
A split, not a type: Easy watch 2 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 5
Resolved 1 · Open-ended 4 · Ambiguous 4
Roles they play
- Shadowas Eugene in Wobble Palace (2018)
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet3
- Tragic1
- Ambiguous5
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Eugene Kotlyarenko's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 9 of their 15 Motif titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Prime Video (5).
Subscription and free streaming for Eugene Kotlyarenko's titles on Motif; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
35 credits, 15 with a Motif page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
Primetime(2026)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all films
Vintage Violence(2026)
Midcredits score: 69th percentile of all films
Our Hero, Balthazar(2025)
Midcredits score: 73rd percentile of all films
Atropia(2025)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all films
The Carpenter's Son(2025)
Midcredits score: 8th percentile of all films
In the Glow of Darkness (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2025)
Cece's Interlude (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2025)
Magic Farm (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2025)
The Code (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2025)
The Hedonist (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2025)
Pet Shop Days(2023)
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all films
The Sweet East(2023)
Midcredits score: 62nd percentile of all films
Rotting in the Sun(2023)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
Harka (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2022)
The Straight Ball (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2022)
Wild Card (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2022)
Actors(2021)
Midcredits score: 44th percentile of all films
The Scary of Sixty-First(2021)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
El Planeta(2021)
Midcredits score: 63rd percentile of all films
We Are (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2020)
Spree(2020)
Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all films
Wobble Palace(2018)
Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all films
A Wonderful Cloud (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2015)
Candelabra (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2014)
Lowlands (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2013)
Crimea (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2013)
Feast of Burden (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2012)
No Word for "Grandparents" in Russian (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2011)
0s & 1s(2011)
Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all films
SkyDiver (Instructional Video #4: Preparation for Mission) (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2010)
7 Transcendental Operations (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2006)
[0's & 1's] (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2005)
Born to Kill (not in the Motif catalog yet)
Entertainment Evolved (not in the Motif catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 35 titles, 33 of them dated from 2005 to 2026.
Biggest box office
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022)
Highest rated
Rotting in the Sun (2023)
Most popular right now
Our Hero, Balthazar (2025)
By role
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on Motif, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
Nominated for a Sundance award in 2020.
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Eugene Kotlyarenko's films land?
Their typical Motif film has a Midcredits score in the 47th percentile, the median of all 15; across their 9 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 49th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up3
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th6
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
5 of their 15 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Panned1
- Divisive1
- Cult Classic3
- Crowd Pleaser5
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the atmosphere 71/100 and the pacing 48/100 in their films, across 6 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on Motif; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their Motif titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Eugene Kotlyarenko's work okay for kids?
Across up to 5 Motif titles with content scores, violence & gore runs heavier than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Eugene Kotlyarenko work with?
People who share at least 2 of Eugene Kotlyarenko's Motif titles, grouped by what they did on them; Alex Hughes shares the most, 7.
Actors
- Vishwam VelandyShared titles: Vintage Violence (2026), Wobble Palace (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Vishwam Velandy
- Morgan KrantzShared titles: Wobble Palace (2018), 0s & 1s (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Morgan Krantz
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Eli KeszlerShared titles: Vintage Violence (2026), Pet Shop Days (2023)See all 2 shared titles with Eli Keszler
- Sean Price WilliamsShared titles: Vintage Violence (2026), Wobble Palace (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Sean Price Williams
- Sophie CorraShared titles: The Carpenter's Son (2025), Pet Shop Days (2023)See all 2 shared titles with Sophie Corra
- Benjamin Moses SmithShared titles: Spree (2020), Wobble Palace (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Benjamin Moses Smith
Producers
- Alex HughesShared titles: Vintage Violence (2026), Our Hero, Balthazar (2025), The Carpenter's Son (2025), Pet Shop Days (2023), Rotting in the Sun (2023), How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022), Spree (2020)See all 7 shared titles with Alex Hughes
- Riccardo MaddalossoShared titles: Vintage Violence (2026), Our Hero, Balthazar (2025), The Carpenter's Son (2025), Pet Shop Days (2023), Rotting in the Sun (2023), How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022)See all 6 shared titles with Riccardo Maddalosso
- Alex BlackShared titles: Our Hero, Balthazar (2025), How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022)See all 2 shared titles with Alex Black
- Scott AharoniShared titles: Our Hero, Balthazar (2025), The Carpenter's Son (2025)See all 2 shared titles with Scott Aharoni
Mixed roles
- Andy FaulknerShared titles: Spree (2020), Wobble Palace (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Andy Faulkner