Pia Derya
Director / Writer
Pia Derya is a Turkish-Australian filmmaker. Her artistic path began in assistant directing, where she worked on several feature films, including No One Knows About Persian Cats by Bahman Ghobadi, which won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2023, Pia made her directorial debut with "Sleeping Beauties",a film she also wrote, which earned her accolades for Best Director, Best Drama and Best Film at the AWFF 2024. The film has been recognized at prestigious festivals such as Clermont Ferrand Film Festival Market Picks 2024, Flickerfest 2024, St Kilda Film Festival 2024 and CinefestOz 2024.
Her follow up short film, " The Disconnected ", premiered at the 2024 Sydney Film Festival, where it was a finalist for the Dendy Awards.
Pia was also selected for the 2025 For Film’s Sake Platform Lab, presented in partnership with the Sydney Film Festival.