Prolific and award-winning writer and director Darezhan Omirbaev was born in 1958 in the village of Uyuk, in the Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan. His films have been selected to screen at festivals including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Toronto, Busan, Rotterdam and Tokyo, among many others.
After completing his studies in applied mathematics, Omirbaev attended the VGIK (Institute of Higher Cinema Studies) in Moscow. For several years, he was a critic for the magazine “New Film”.
His debut feature film Kairat (1992) won the Silver Leopard and the FIPRESCI Prize at Locarno International Film Festival, the Silver Montgolfière in Nantes and the Grand Prix and the Critics Prize in Strasbourg (1993). His second feature Cardiogram (Kardiogramma 1995) premiered In Competition at the Venice Film Festival, winning the UNESCO prize. It went on to win the Jury Prize in Nantes and the Grand Prix in Singapore International Film Festival.
Three films written and directed by Omirbaev have been selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival –Student (2012), The Road (Jol 2001), and Killer (Tueur à gages 1988) which was awarded the Prix Un Certain Regard.
Poet (Akyn 2021) world premiered at the Berlinale, and Omirbaev was awarded the Best Director Prize from Tokyo Film Festival.
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.
