USC School of Cinematic Arts alum Alex Burunova wants her films to have a timeless quality. Her hope is that, by combining her skills as a filmmaker and painter, she can bring viewers into her lyrical, universal stories and hopefully inspire the next generation to fearlessly tell their truth.

Her most recent film, Satisfaction, made its debut at the 2025 SXSW film festival. Burunova recently sat down with SCA to talk about her journey as an artist, her time at USC, and her unique goal to have one million women see her new film.

What is your name, and what year did you graduate from SCA? I’m Alex Burunova. I graduated from the Production track in 2009.

Tell me about your new film, Satisfaction. Satisfaction is a nuanced psychological drama that follows two British composers: Lola and Phillip. They're avoiding talking about something as they vacation on the Greek island during the off-season. When she meets magnetic Elena and brings her into the fold, tensions rise, forcing Lola to confront her dark past.

What inspired the film? It’s a personal story that has been with me for a decade. At first, I had to write it down - something that happened  - as a story with a beginning, middle, and end, to process it, to understand what the lesson was.

Over the years of working on it, the story became less about me and more about the broader experience of womanhood.  I wanted some women to see themselves in it  - and not reduced to type.

For the past hundred years, so many female characters have been portrayed as just one thing - just a mother, just a stripper, just a piano teacher. I wanted to create a story about a woman who meets life’s events with all of who she is. She’s a pianist, a composer, a queer woman, a lover. She occupies all of those spaces simultaneously - and that complexity is what makes it real.

What was your goal with the film? A dream of mine is for a million young women to see this film in theaters. I think if I had seen it while I was at USC in my college years, it would have made a great difference. Back then, I wasn’t seeing stories like this on screen. That’s the film I needed when I was younger - so I made it now.

A still from Satisfaction

The visuals are really wonderful. Did you have an inspiration for the visual sense? It’s funny you ask that - I actually wanted the film to feel timeless, but I didn’t pull visual references from other films. That was a conscious choice.

Really? Did you avoid visual references? I did.  I wanted to avoid referencing other films. I wanted the story to come from within because of its personal nature. I purposefully avoided any film references whatsoever. I’m a painter by background, so instead, I painted key frames of the film in watercolor during development. That helped me imagine how it could look and feel emotionally. I wanted it to look like a film by Alex Burunova.

What does a film by Alex Burunova look like? Oh, that’s a tough question. I don’t think I’ve ever actually defined it. It’s completely intuitive. I go with my gut - trying to stay as true as possible to the original vision and doing everything I can to pull those images out of my mind and onto the screen. I guess you’ll have to watch the film.

 

Do you still work with anyone that you met at USC? And did anyone from USC work on Satisfaction? Not on Satisfaction, because it was an international project, but my project for Netflix had something like 15 USC alumni, old friends, and classmates.

What’s a class from your time at SCA that you find yourself coming back to over and over again in your professional life?  Bruce Block’s class, Visual Expression. His book, The Visual Story, is basically my Bible. I applied so many of those concepts while making Satisfaction - from linear motifs and tonality to designing intentional color palettes. I mailed a copy to my cinematographer in Hungary as a holiday gift. He loved it, and it helped us speak the same language on set.

What would you say to someone who is just starting their journey at USC? A career in film is a marathon, not a sprint. Give yourself the space to find your voice, and the time to grow into the artist you're meant to be.

How was the premiere? How was SXSW? It was incredibly heartwarming - the reception was beyond anything I expected. And I truly felt the USC love. A lot of old classmates flew in to support, and my 546 producing partner even drove in from South Texas to be there. It was a beautiful full-circle moment that felt like 546 all over again - just in a different city, and this time with a red carpet.

A still from Satisfaction

What’s next for you? The next script is already written - I actually wrote it ten years ago, before Satisfaction. It’s set in the Himalayas and takes the form of a Buddhist dramedy. The tone is much lighter, but at its core, it’s still a story about a woman growing into her power - rediscovering herself -  but in the context of a familial relationship.

Where can people find you? Instagram @AlexBurunova and @satisfactionfilm