BIOGRAPHY
ESRA SAYDAM - Founder
Esra Saydam is an Istanbul-born director/producer with a master's degree in Columbia University Graduate Film Program. Her first feature film, ACROSS THE SEA (2014), won multiple awards at Adana FF as well at other international festivals like Slamdance and Milano Int. The film also screened at festivals, Florida, Raindance, Istanbul and Warsaw. Esra's next projects in development have been recognized and invited by the renown programs like EAVE's Ties That Bind, !f Sundance Screenwriters' Lab, Hamptons Screenwriters Lab, Meetings on the Bridge, IFP/Gotham Film Week, Transatlantic Partners Program, Maison Des Scenaristes and Cine Qua Non Lab. Esra is also a participant of Berlinale Talent Program 2018. She was also a SAG Indie Fellow at Stowe Story Labs. As part of her screenwriting research, she completed her EMT training and received her New York State EMT Certificate. Her recent short film as a producer, A PERIOD PIECE (2020)premiered at SXSW. Saydam also develops Double's Dilemma, a TV Series based on a Turkish novel, which recently won the pitching contest at Content London. Esra is the recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Fellowship and an active member of Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, Film Fatales and Brown Girls Doc Mafia. Her other filmmaking credits include MUSIC OF STRANGERS(HBO), I'M NO LONGER HERE(Netflix) and HELL ON EARTH (The National Geographic).
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