SASHA RAINBOW
Sasha Rainbow is a BAFTA-nominated director that uses her powerful storytelling abilities to cast light on underrepresented heroic role models — which she thinks is just what the world needs.
Her first horror feature, Grafted, is out on festival release now.
Born in New Zealand, she now lives in Los Angeles.
Work
Sasha has been directing since 2010, starting by making music videos in London. In 2019 her work for the Toyota Olympic and Paralympic Start Your Impossible campaign was the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia. Her directorial flare shines in her commercial work for EE Hope United, KFC, Puma, Lancôme, and Apple and music videos for Wild Beasts, Placebo, Suki Waterhouse, Priya Ragu, Franz Ferdinand & Sparks, and Findlay.
In 2024, her first body-horror feature film, Grafted, was released and she won best director awards at the TerrorMolins and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival awards. Her first documentary Kofi and Lartey, about two boys living in the world’s biggest electronic waste dump in Ghana, won numerous awards. Her second documentary Kamali, about a seven-year-old Indian girl skateboarder, won several Academy-qualifying festivals, was long-listed for an Academy Award, nominated for a BAFTA, and released through RYOT Films.
Sasha is developing several feature-length scripted films, including BETA, a female lead sci-fi set in the Bay Area.
Awards and Honours
2024 - Winner Best Director - "Grafted" - TerrorMolins Bloody Madness Section 2024 - Winner Best Director - "Grafted" - Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2024 - Speaker New Zealand Big Screen Symposium 2023 - Bronze EE "Hope United" - British Arrows Awards 2023 - Bronze Sound Design - EE "Hope United" - Clio Awards 2021 - Selected for WIF Mentorship Scheme Women in Film - Los Angeles 2018-2021 - Alumni BFI x BAFTA Network Program 2020 - Nomination Best British Short Film - "Kamali" - BAFTAs 2019 - Winner Best Documentary Short - "Kamali" - Raindance Film Festival 2019 - Winner Best Short Documentary - "Kamali" - Atlanta Film Festival 2019 - Winner Best Director - "Kamali" - Mumbai Shorts International Film Festival 2019 - Nomination Best Documentary Short - "Kamali" - Palm Springs International Short Festival 2019 - Winner Best of the Fest & Audience Award - "Kofi and Larety" - Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2019 - Yaddo Artist’s Residency Saratoga Springs 2018 - Winner The Voice of a Woman Award - Cannes Lions 2018 - Winner Award of Excellence - "Kofi and Lartey" - Impact Doc Awards 2018 - Winner Award of Excellence in Direction - "Kofi and Lartey" - Docs Without Borders 2015 - Nomination Best Director - "Electric Bones" - UK Music Video Awards