Vladlena Sandu


Vladlena Olegovna Sandu is a Crimea-born film director, screenwriter and theatre maker whose work explores memory, war and displacement.
After the start of the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022, she relocated to the Netherlands and is based in Amsterdam.

Early life and education

Sandu was born on 17 August 1982 in Feodosia and moved in childhood to Grozny after her parents’ divorce. She later described growing up amid the Chechen wars as formative for her work. She studied at the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia in Moscow, later completing directing studies at the VGIK under Alexey Uchitel. She subsequently trained in theatre with Boris Yukhananov. In 2019, Sandu entered VGIK postgraduate studies in aesthetics and cultural theory and published scholarly essays related to film and culture.

Career

Sandu’s student works circulated on the Russian festival circuit before drawing international attention with Holy God, a documentary short about three generations of women displaced from Grozny. The film screened internationally and won the Movies that Matter Award at ZagrebDox 2017. Her short Eight Images from the Life of Nastya Sokolova premiered in the 2018 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam and later received the Silver Eye Award from the Institute of Documentary Film at Ji.hlava’s East Silver Market.
From 2019 to 2022, Sandu co-created and worked as screenwriter, director and creative producer on the drama series Identification, which follows a young Russian woman who converts to Islam and confronts social frictions.
In 2022, she completed the short No Nation Without Culture, which screened at goEast in 2023 and won the RheinMain Short Film Award.

Memory (2025)

Sandu’s first feature-length documentary Memory received support from the Netherlands Film Fund + IDFA Bertha Fund Co-Production Scheme and was later presented as a Work-in-Progress at Visions du Réel Industry in April 2025.
The film premiered as the opening film of Giornate degli Autori at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. Damon Wise of Deadline Hollywood characterised it as a harrowing wartime memoir that fuses Sandu’s on-screen presence with stark imagery to evoke the rupture of childhood, and Elsa Keslassy of Variety described it as a personal film rooted in Sandu’s Chechen-war childhood. The film received the section’s People’s Choice Award.

Filmography

Diyana Orlovs Kira Tamerlan’s Love Holy God Eight Images from the Life of Nastya Sokolova No Nation Without Culture
  • ''Memory''

Festivals and awards

YearFestivalFilmAwardRef
2015Kinotavr KiraSpecial Jury Diploma
2015VGIK International Student Film FestivalKiraBest Director; Best Cinematography
2016Apricot Tree International Documentary Film FestivalHoly GodGrand Prix – Best Short Film
2016International Festival Signes de NuitHoly GodSpecial Mention – Night Award
2017ZagrebDoxHoly GodMovies That Matter Award
2018Silver Eye Awards Eight Images from the Life of Nastya SokolovaSilver Eye Award – Best Short Documentary
2023GoEast – RheinMain Short Film AwardNo Nation Without CultureWinner
2023Amsterdam Fringe FestivalThe Rainbow Cinema Best of Fringe 2023
2025Venice Days (Giornate degli Autori)MemoryPeople’s Choice Award