Victor Ilyukhin: 2026-2027 award Recipient
The Bohemians and Diplodocus Films are excited to announce a new creative partnership: The Bohemians Artist Residency & Robert A. Levinson and Patricia S. Levinson Arts Achievement Award for Victor Ilyukhin, documentary filmmaker and director of Romanov Family: The Best Kept Secret.
The Bohemians: New York Musicians’ Club, founded in 1907, is a longstanding New York–based organization committed to advancing the work of performing artists through an annual concert series and curated artistic development.
With a total value of up to $55,000, the support will take the form of post-production assistance for the film and the realization of Victor’s artistic vision for the project, including editing, story consulting, and the creation of an original score, culminating in a live work-in-progress screening and performance during The Bohemians’ 2026–2027 season. The Award is directed and produced by Dustin Gledhill, Executive & Artistic Director of The Bohemians.
more about victor’s
residency and documentary
Victor Ilyukhin is the director and editor of Romanov Family: “Best Kept Secret,” a 30–45 minute documentary currently in post-production. His work focuses on intimate, performance-driven storytelling, and this film offers rare access to Prince Rostislav Romanov, great-grandson of Grand Duchess Xenia and the first member of the Romanov family to open his private life fully to the camera. Set against the historical legacy of the 1917 Russian Revolution and the contemporary experience of Russian exile, the documentary follows Rostislav as he navigates questions of identity, addiction, and responsibility while seeking to preserve a fractured family legacy for his son.
Through the support of The Bohemians Artist Residency & Robert A. Levinson and Patricia S. Levinson Arts Achievement Award, the project will complete post-production while placing a strong emphasis on performing artists. The Award supports the participation of young professional soloists from Concert Artists Guild’s roster—most in their early to late twenties—who contribute both recorded performances and live music. These artists collaborate on an original score and perform alongside the film in a live work-in-progress screening presented during The Bohemians’ 2026–2027 concert season.
By integrating film, live performance, and collaborative creation, the project extends beyond a traditional documentary format. It provides emerging classical soloists with opportunities for interdisciplinary work and public presentation, reflecting the Levinson Award’s commitment to supporting promising young performing artists through hands-on, professionally meaningful experiences.
Victor Ilyukhin (Director/Producer) received an MFA in Social Documentary from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2014. He is a non-fiction filmmaker who has worked internationally in documentary film and television for more than ten years. His recent short documentary, The Strength to Fight, which explores sickle cell disease, received the Best Documentary Award at the New York State International Film Festival.
Ilyukhin produced and co-edited the documentary Busy Inside, which premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival, won the Audience Award at the Middlebury Film Festival, screened at DOC NYC and Hamptons Doc Fest, and was broadcast nationally on PBS in 2021 and 2023. In 2021, he founded Un/Filmed School, offering documentary filmmaking workshops worldwide led by internationally acclaimed filmmakers. Victor is a queer immigrant filmmaker living in the United States who believes in the healing power of documentary filmmaking.
