Ilona Kohnke
For my major project, I imagined a film adaptation of the play True West as a studio build. I focused on the destruction of the house by the two brothers, using it to reflect the play’s core themes- masculinity, identity, and sibling rivalry. As the brothers’ relationship deteriorates, they tear the space apart, turning the once-stable environment into a chaotic ruin. This destruction becomes a visual metaphor for the psychological collapse at the heart of the play.
TV Pilots (Collaboration with 3rd Year TV)
This was a design project where I created a flexible and efficient set for four completely different TV drama scripts. Each story had a distinct setting—a Hollywood producer’s office, a haunted hospital corridor, a veterinary clinic, and an underground bookies’ office. The four pilots were shot on consecutive days. I handled every stage of the project myself, from initial concept development and technical drawings to construction and on-set dressing.
In my thesis I explore Disney’s architectural and urban ambitions, focusing on how its spaces evolved from the utopian plans of EPCOT, to the controlled suburb of Celebration, Florida, and finally to the fractured reality shown in The Florida Project. Using architectural and cinematic theory, I examine how these environments act as both idealized spaces and mechanisms of exclusion. From EPCOT’s modernist planning to the raw depiction of life on Disney’s margins in Sean Baker’s film, I argue that while Disney promises utopia, its designed spaces ultimately highlight and reinforce structural inequality.
Ilona is a recent Production Design (BA Design for Film) graduate originally from Hungary, currently based in Dublin. Over the past four years, she has developed a broad range of skills including research, drawing, technical drafting, storyboarding, and model making. She has also gained practical on-set experience through various collaborative projects with the National Film School.
Ilona is passionate about visual storytelling and enjoys creative problem-solving and in-depth research. She is proficient in programs such as SketchUp, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, and more.
