Nuri Bilge Ceylan is a Turkish director, screenwriter, photographer and actor. His film Winter Sleep (2014) won the Palme d'Or at the 67th Cannes Film Festival, while six of his films have been selected as Turkey's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Modern Kazakh culture is mainly characterized as a synthesis of Tengrian nomadic and Islamic and European elements. Nomadic elements derived from predecessors, such as the Huns, First Turkic Khaganate, Golden Horde and Kazakh Khanate. Nomadism largely shaped its peculiar music, clothing, jewelry and oral literature. Kazakh culture also seems to be strongly influenced by the nomadic Scythians.
Miranda July is an American film director, screenwriter, actress and author. Her body of work includes film, fiction, monologue, digital presentations and live performance art.
Lucy Walker is an English film director. She has directed the feature documentaries Devil's Playground (2002), Blindsight (2006), Waste Land (2010), Countdown to Zero (2010), The Crash Reel (2013), Buena Vista Social Club: Adios (2017), Bring Your Own Brigade (2021), and Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (2023). She has also directed the short films The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (2011) and The Lion's Mouth Opens (2014). Waste Land was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Sean Baker is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing independent feature films about the lives of sex workers, including Take Out (2004), Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017), Red Rocket (2021), and Anora (2024), the last of which won him the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. He is also known for creating the Fox/IFC puppet sitcom Greg the Bunny (2002–2006) and its spin-offs.
Gulnara Sarsenova is a Kazakhstani film producer who has produced several award-winning films. She is the only Central Asian producer to receive the Best Asian Filmmaker award at Busan International Film Festival, one of the most significant film festivals in Asia, in 2008.
Cinema of Kazakhstan refers to the film industry based in Kazakhstan. Cinema in Kazakhstan can be traced back to the early 20th century. Today, Kazakhstan produces approximately fifteen full-length films each year.
Alice Rohrwacher is an Italian film director, editor and screenwriter. She made her directorial debut with Heavenly Body (2011). She has since directed notable films such as The Wonders (2014), winner of the Grand Prix, Happy as Lazzaro (2018), which received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay, and La chimera (2023). Her short Le pupille (2022) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
Hallelujah the Hills (1963) was written, directed and edited by Adolfas Mekas. The picture was his first feature film.
Dinmuhammed Qanatuly Qudaibergen known professionally as Dimash Qudaibergen, is a Kazakh singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is university-trained in classical as well as contemporary music, and is known for his exceptionally wide vocal range. He has performed songs in twelve languages.
Kamal Aljafari - also written Kamal Jafari is a Palestinian artist, film director and producer.
Alireza Ghasemi is an Iranian screenwriter, film director and producer. notably directing In the Land of Brothers, for which he won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Bi Gan is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer. His first feature film, Kaili Blues, was released in 2015 and won Best New Film Director at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards, the FIPRESCI Prize, The Golden Montgolfiere Prize at the 37th Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes, and the Best First Feature Film Award at The 68th Locarno Film Festival.
Sina Ataeian Dena is an Iranian-German film director, screenwriter and film producer and artist.
Samal Ilyaskyzy Yeslyamova is a Kazakh film actress. She is recognized internationally for starring in the film Ayka directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy, which won her the award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018.
Teymur Hajiyev is an Azerbaijani film director, producer, voting member of the European Film Academy and Locarno Filmmakers Academy alumnus.
The Fever is a 2019 internationally co-produced drama thriller film written and directed by Maya Da-Rin, Miguel Seabra Lopes and Pedro Cesarino and starring Regis Myrupu and Rosa Peixoto. Featuring dialogue in Portuguese and the indigenous languages Tukano and Tikuna, it features a main cast of indigenous Brazilian from the Upper Rio Negro, belonging to the Desanos, Tucanos and Tarianas people, many of them whom had their first experience in cinema.
Sebastian Klinger is a Swiss cinematographer and producer. His critically acclaimed feature film Sew Torn premiered at South by Southwest Film Festival and screened on the Piazza Grande at Locarno Film Festival in 2024.
