urui.film@gmail.com

My creative practice is deeply rooted in the geopolitical and cultural landscape of my homeland, the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) – a region shaped by the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the year I was born. I inherited a landscape scarred by Stalinist labor camps and the ongoing erasure of Sakha identity. 

My films are archaeological acts: excavating layers of colonial trauma to resurrect histories buried by state narratives. My work reclaims Indigenous histories through focusing on visual language, identity, and the interplay of collective and personal memory. This is an act of self-historicization – a way to document my community’s present on our own terms. Through cinema, I amplify the voice of my Northern Indigenous people, a voice Russia has sought to silence for centuries.

Filmography:

• AYKUO / short fiction / 2023 / as director, screenwriter, editor
• The Land of Whispering Stars / experimental short documentary / 2022 / as director, editor

Festivals and Awards:

• AYKUO / imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival / Short Competition / Toronto, Canada / 2023 / Innovation in Storytelling Award
• AYKUO / In the Palace International Short Film Festival / Best Student Fiction / Sofia, Bulgaria / 2023 / Special Mention
• AYKUO / Montreal Festival of New Cinema / International Competition / Montreal, Canada / 2023
• AYKUO / Go Short – International Short Film Festival / New Arrivals Competition / Nijmegen, Netherlands / 2023
• AYKUO / Vienna Shorts / International Competition / Vienna, Austria / 2023
• AYKUO / Busan International Short Film Festival / International Competition / Busan, South Korea / 2023
• The Land of Whispering Stars / Reykjavík International Film Festival / Films from the North / Reykjavík, Iceland / 2022
• The Land of Whispering Stars / Go Short – International Short Film Festival / New Arrivals Competition / Nijmegen, Netherlands / 2022
• The Land of Whispering Stars / São Paulo International Short Film Festival / Official selection / São Paulo, Brazil / 2022