Laura Koroleva makes her cinematic debut in Sveta. Like her character, Koroleva is deaf and speaks through Russian Sign Language and interpreters. Koroleva was born in Tatarstan, Russia, in 1983. She has studied for much of her life in Almaty, Kazakhstan, including from 2000 to 2004 when she majored in fashion design. She is married and has an eight-year-old daughter. Koroleva has worked as a social worker for the Kazakh Society of Deaf People and from 2015 head led the group Female Chorus of Gesture Singing (singing hands) in Almaty. She spent her life dreaming of being an actress in a movie, but assumed that it was impossible until director Zhanna Issabayeva came along with Sveta.
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.
