Zhanana Kurmasheva is a Kazakh director with a focus on documentary filmmaking. She holds a BA and an MA in Film Directing from the Kazakh National Academy of Arts. Zhanana has participated in a number of international workshops and training programs, such as the East-West Talent Lab at goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in 2022. Her debut feature-length documentary, We Live Here (2024), has been supported by the Berlinale Doc Toolbox Program, Eurasia Doc (Doc Monde) Script Development Residency, GZDOC (Top 10 Documentary Projects), and Tokyo Docs, where it won Best Pitch.
She is the laureate of the Kulaguer-2011 award for her student documentary I Am 20 Years Old!. Her short documentary Zhenya (2013) was showcased at numerous international film festivals in Moscow, New York, Yerevan, Sevastopol, and Almaty, receiving acclaim for its nuanced storytelling. Her work reflects a profound engagement with social issues and cultural identity, establishing her as a rising voice in Kazakh documentary cinema.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
