Samal Yeslyamova studied directing and acting at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS). She appeared in Sergei Dvortsevoy's film Tulpan (2008), which won the Un Certain Regard Award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. She earned international acclaim by winning the Best Actress Award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Dvortsevoy's Ayka (2018) and the Best Actress award at the 2019 Asian Film Awards Academy. She starred in Yerlan Nurmukhambetov's The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time (2019), the opening film of the 2019 Busan International Film Festival, and also served as a jury member for BIFF's New Currents section. Her other acting credits include Ruslan Pak's Three (2020), which won the New Currents Award at the 2020 Busan International Film Festival, and Zaka Abdrakhmanova's Dad Croaked on Saturday (2024).
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
