Ella Manzheeva (b. 1981, Elista, USSR) turned her attention to filmmaking after learning the violin. She studied sound direction at St Petersburg State University of Film and Television (2005) and then film direction at the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors in Moscow (2007). Her writer-director debut The Gulls (Chaiki, 2015), presented at this year's Berlinale, sees her returning to her native Kalmyk region, where the long-standing inhabitants are Buddhists. In her film Manzheeva used her creative flair to convey the mystical atmosphere of this desolate place, the mysteries underlying the local culture and a society that comes up against the challenges of a new age.
50. MFF Karlovy Vary
