DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Camila Sagyntkan

Camila Sagyntkan is a director and writer from Almaty, Kazakhstan. She holds a law degree, a background that sharpened her perspective on justice, responsibility, and human stories before she turned to filmmaking. Her second short film, What Have You Done, Zarina? (2025), won Best Short Film at the Torino Film Festival and Best Short Film at Art Film Fest Košice. The film has continued its international festival journey with selections including Palm Springs International ShortFest, the 60th Hof International Film Festival, and Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival. Her directorial and screenwriting debut, Happy Independence Day (2023), was shortlisted for the Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe program. The film received several awards and screened at international festivals including the Cleveland International Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and Courts d’un soir. In 2025, it was released internationally through Short of the Week. Camila is an alumna of BaseCamp ’25 at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, CAPITÃO Artist Residency in Portugal, Qyzqaras Critic Lab ’25 in Kazakhstan, Caucasus Cinema in Georgia, and Script LAB CA ’25 in Kyrgyzstan. She is currently developing her third short film, Brat Summer, a hybrid coming-of-age film combining live action and animation. The project was shortlisted among the top ten projects of the Asian Short Film Fund and selected for the Drama International Short Film Festival Pitching Lab 2026 in Greece. She is also developing her debut feature film, My Sea, My Waves, and working across film and international industry projects in Central Asia.