Director,
Writer,
Actress,
Cinematographer,
Editor,
Producer
Born in 1982 
 
 
Vladena SANDU
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Владлена САНДУ
Vladena SANDU
Filmography (extracts)
 
Director
2025 - Memory (Память) [fiction, 98 mn]
2022 - No Nation Without Culture (Без культуры нет нации) [documentary, 17 mn]
2017 - Eight Images from the Life of Nastya Sokolova (Восемь картин из жизни Насти Соколовой) [documentary, 29 mn]
2015 - Kira (Кира) [fiction, 20 mn]
2015 - New Russians 2 (Новые русские 2) [fiction, 100 mn]
2012 - Diyana (Дияна) [documentary, 17 mn]
 
Writer
2025 - Memory (Память) from Vladena SANDU [fiction, 98 mn]
2022 - No Nation Without Culture (Без культуры нет нации) from Vladena SANDU [documentary, 17 mn]
2015 - Kira (Кира) from Vladena SANDU [fiction, 20 mn]
2012 - Diyana (Дияна) from Vladena SANDU [documentary, 17 mn]
 
Actress
2025 - Memory (Память) from Vladena SANDU [fiction, 98 mn]
2022 - No Nation Without Culture (Без культуры нет нации) from Vladena SANDU [documentary, 17 mn]
 
Cinematographer
2012 - Diyana (Дияна) from Vladena SANDU [documentary, 17 mn]
 
Editor
2015 - Kira (Кира) from Vladena SANDU [fiction, 20 mn]
 
Producer
2012 - Diyana (Дияна) from Vladena SANDU [documentary, 17 mn]
 
Sites : Kinopoisk, IMDb, Official website
Awards :
Memory :
First prize, Artdocfest / International, Different cities (World), 2026
Audience Award, Venice International Film Festival, Venice (Italy), 2025
Kira :
Best Short Film, Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2015
Biography
Vladlena Sandu (b. 1982, Crimea, Ukraine) is a filmmaker and theatre director whose work explores war trauma, dictatorship, colonialism, and sexual trafficking.
Grew up in Grozny during the Russian-Chechen War and was later displaced to southern Russia.
Graduated in film directing from VGIK (Moscow) and completed a postgraduate degree in Aesthetics and Cultural Theory.
Films have been screened at Berlinale, Rotterdam, DOK Leipzig, Series Mania, GoEast, and other festivals, receiving several international awards.
After fleeing Russia in 2022, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, artistic work continued in Amsterdam, including the award-winning performance The Rainbow Cinema (Best Amsterdam Fringe 2023), based on personal experience of sexual trafficking. Participant in the European Theatre Academy in Avignon 2025.
The feature debut Memory, based on autobiographical childhood memories and the Russian-Chechen War, opened the competition program of Giornate degli Autori at the 82nd Venice Film Festival in 2025 and received the People's Choice Award.
https://vladlenasandu.com/
 
Commentaries
- Венеция-2025. «Память» Владлены Санду и «Короткое лето» Насти Коркии: два дебюта режиссерок из России [Les films Memory de Natalia Nazarova et Un bref été de Nastia Korkia à Venise 2025] 2025, meduza.io
- Venice Days People’s Choice Award to Memory Nick CUNNINGHAM, 2025, businessdoceurope.com