Sayfullaeva, Nigina Hafizovna

Born in Dushanbe . She received higher education in Moscow , in 2005 she graduated from the Faculty of Art History of the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH) . In 2010, she graduated from the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors , and also received a diploma from the Institute of Contemporary Art .

Nigina Sayfullaeva shot her first directorial work in 2009, it was a short film “I want with you” , for this tape the director independently wrote the script. In 2011, she shot her second short, Rose Hip . In 2012, Nigina became one of the directors of the comedy series "Deffchonki" , which showed the TNT channel . ^[one]

In 2017, Nigina acted as one of the screenwriters of the film “About Love. Only for adults ” , having removed one of the short stories there; in the same year, she wrote the script for the drama series "Kids" for TV-3 . ^[one]

In 2018, she worked on a new film, the psychological drama "Stars in the wrong light." The film tells the story of a woman of thirty years who suspects her husband of treason, but cannot directly say so and decides to betray herself. Originally, the film was to be called “Jealousy,” but over two years of working on the script, the working title of the film no longer fully corresponded to its content. ^{[2] A} film entitled “Loyalty” was shown at the Kinotavr festival in 2019 and received a diploma from the jury wording “for the unlimited faith of actors in directing” ^[3] .

Married to the director and screenwriter Mikhail Mestetskiy ( "Rag Union" , "Legend No. 17" ). Lives and works in Moscow .

The first full-length work of the director was the drama "My Name" , filmed in 2014. The film starred Konstantin Lavronenko , Alexandra Bortich , Marina Vasilieva , Anna Kotova-Deryabin . At the Kinotavr , where the film premiered, he was awarded a special prize for Easy Breathing and Artistic Integrity. The painting also received the main prize of the Baltic Debuts festival . The film was shown at the San Sebastian festival in the New Directors debut competition. It was the first Russian film in the program over the past 11 years. ^[four]

The picture tells of two high school students who came to the Crimea to get acquainted with the father of one of them, but at the last moment decided to change their names. Here is what Nigina Sayfullaeva herself says about the idea of ​​the film: “The history of the film“ My Name ”grew out of my psychological experiences. I believe that the relationship between father and daughter is a powerful topic that applies to all girls. Therefore, it seems to me that this is important. But do not overestimate the autobiography of this film - my dad and I have a wonderful, very close relationship, but I had to work on this. And I would like to push others to this as well. ” ^[five]

Still short films by Nigina Sayfullaeva “I want with you” and “Rosehip” set a certain style for the director’s cinema. Both films are stories of growing up. " My name is " continued and deepened this topic. In his films, the director explores the inner female world, fears and emotions.

“About girls it’s easier for me to shoot, well, that is, more understandable and interesting. It’s much harder for me to think about a man - I’m wading through the jungle of misunderstanding and analysis, and about girls I’m intuitively clear. ^[5] “I gravitate towards private realistic stories. They can comprehend time, but, rather, the focus there rests on the inner world of heroes. Those stories that are far from life, far from real people, I can’t watch, in the sense that I can’t even connect to the plot. I don’t feel emotions, but this is fundamental. ” ^[7]