Sanja Živković Explained

Sanja Živković is a Serbian-Canadian film director,^[1] whose debut feature film Easy Land was released in 2019.^[2]

Born in Serbia, she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, with her family during the Balkan Wars.^[3] She studied film at Simon Fraser University, and has stated that her experience as an immigrant, living as an outsider in an unfamiliar new society, has informed her creative perspective.^[3]

She made several short films, including How I Almost Became a Canadian (2009), Our Little Secret (2011),^[4] Maria's Episode (2014) and Cleo (2016),^[5] prior to Easy Land, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.^[6]

Her second feature film, Cat's Cry, went into production in 2023.^[7] It premiered at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival,^[8] where Živković received an honorable mention for the Emerging Canadian Director award.^[9]

Notes and References

1. Jenna Dorsi, TIFF 2019 Women Directors: Meet Sanja Živković – “Easy Land”. Women and Hollywood, September 5, 2019.
2. Alisha Mughal, "'Easy Land' Tenderly Explores the Canadian Immigrant Experience". Exclaim!, May 19, 2020.
3. Baisakhi Roy, Lisa Evans and Vivien Fellegi, "Inspiring others behind the scenes". Toronto Star, May 4, 2024.
4. https://www.niagarathisweek.com/things-to-do/indie-film-fest-kicks-off-friday/article_61fa4727-dc0c-5d63-b55a-9ae47ea1a91f.html? "Indie film fest kicks off Friday"
5. https://thatshelf.com/tiff-2016-cleo-review/ "TIFF 2016: Cleo Review"
6. https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/tiff-canadian-lineup-1.5267841 "Female, rookie filmmakers round up TIFF's Canadian lineup"
7. Marko Stojiljković, "Sanja Živković shoots her sophomore feature, Cat’s Cry". Cineuropa, October 9, 2023.
8. Jamie Casemore, "Nine Canadian features set to world premiere at VIFF". Playback, August 29, 2024.
9. Gail Johnson, "Vancouver International Film Festival announces winners of 2024 juried awards". Stir, October 3, 2024.