A graduate of Columbia University’s M.F.A. Film Program, Esra Saydam has produced several short films, including I Am John Wayne, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance and screened at Los Angeles Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest and Florida Film Festival. As a director, Esra has helmed three short films, including Fair Lawn, which screened at festivals worldwide like Seattle and !f Istanbul. Her directorial feature debut, Across the Sea, co-directed by Nisan Dağ, had its national premiere at the Istanbul Film Festival National Competition and won six awards at the Golden Boll Film Festival in Turkey, the Audience Award at Slamdance, the Best Directing Award at the Skyway Film Festival and two Leonardo Da Vinci Awards in the Best Acting and Best Directing categories. Esra continues to develop projects at her Istanbul-based production company Karlakum Film while providing production services to high-quality international projects.

Clown is Down — The murder of a teenage street performer is solved through the self-destructive journeys of three characters: the victim, his brother and a strange woman…