Samal Yeslyamova was born in 1984 in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. She later studied at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts from 2007 to 2011 and currently lives in Moscow. She made her screen debut in Tulpan (2008), Sergey Dvortsevoy’s drama that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film won many awards including the APSA for Best Feature Film. At the time of filming Tulpan, Yeslyamova was only 19 years old and struggled during her month living in a nomadic yurt for the shoot. Ten years later, she starred in Ayka (2018), only Yeslyamova’s second feature film. In the film, also directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy, she is rarely off screen. At the 2018 Cannes Film Festival she was awarded the prize for Best Actress, and was later nominated for the APSA for Best Performance by an Actress. She followed Ayka with The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time (2019) and received her second APSA nomination.
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.
