Biography

Alina Kulesh is a Ukrainian-Canadian, award-winning Director & Creative Director who creates empathetic work with aesthetic sensitivity.

Her first short film, Baby Blue, played in Los Angeles, Portland, and Toronto and won "Best Romance Short" and "Best Director" awards. In February 2020, Alina was selected to participate in the "Director Lab" at Pendance Film Festival. Alina directed the visual poem "many tried but failed to catch me" by Rupi Kaur that garnered 221K views in 24 hours. In March 2020, Alina was featured as a female filmmaker to-watch as part of adam&eveDDB #SheTakesOver campaign. Her second short film, Little Soul, premiered in January 2021 on CBC TV in Canada and is available to stream on CBC Gem. In July 2021, Little Soul was featured at the Festival de Cannes Short Film Market. In October 2021, Alina participated in the Talent Lab at the Reykjavík International Film Festival where Little Soul was part of the "Golden Egg" competition. Little Soul also received in-flight entertainment distribution with Air Canada from August 2022-February 2023. Alina completed her third short film, Hard Falls, in June 2023. In Summer 2023, Hard Falls was nominated for Best Director awards at the Arizona Short Film Festival and Montreal Independent Film Festival. Hard Falls was acquired by CBC and will have its televised, broadcast premiere in February 2024. Alina was recently selected as a Juror for the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards hosted by the Academy of Canadian Film & Television.

Alina is also a commercial director who has crafted branded work for SickKids, DoorDash, Knix, and Rupi Kaur/Aspeth.

As a Creative Director and Director, Alina's work has been nominated and won awards at the nextMedia Awards, Advertising Design Club of Canada (ADCC), Canadian Marketing Awards, Media Innovation Awards, and the Academy of Canadian Film & Television. Her work has been shown in countries worldwide, including Canada, the U.S., France, Iceland, New Zealand, and beyond.
- IMDb mini biography by: Alina Kulesh