Bio / Resume (download)

Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sabina Vajrača immigrated to the U.S. in 1994 as a war refugee. She started her professional career in theatre, writing, directing and producing plays at The Lincoln Center, SITI Company, and Shakespeare & Company.

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In 2005 Sabina ventured into the world of film by directing and producing the critically-acclaimed feature documentary BACK TO BOSNIA. The film premiered at the AFI Fest, screened at over 30 festivals worldwide, winning Director’s Choice at the Crossroads Film Festival, and is featured in the top 100 of the greatest films directed by women by BBC. It's currently streaming on multiple platforms, including Amazon and iTunes.

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Since then, she wrote, directed, and produced a dozen short narrative films; music video for Nouvelle Vague’s BELA LUGOSI’S DEAD; commercials for ESPN and IFP Media Center; and wrote numerous award-winning short and feature screenplays.

Most recently she co-directed a Warner Bros./USC feature period drama VOODOO MACBETH, whose numerous accolades include Best Director awards at Catalina and Charlotte Black Film Festivals; and wrote/directed the short drama VARIABLES, which won the Alfred P. Sloan Grant and DGA Student Awards Grand Prize, and was nominated for the Student Oscars, HUMANITAS Prize, and BAFTA Student Award, among other honors. Her latest short SEVAP/MITZVAH won the Claims Conference Film Grant.

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Outside of her own projects, Sabina worked as an assistant to writer/director Max Mayer on his feature drama ADAM, starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne (2009 Sundance); alongside Gregory Crewdson on his photo opus CATHEDRAL OF THE PINES; and she shadowed James Whitmore Jr. on MADAM SECRETARY (CBS) and Sarah Boyd on 9-1-1 (FOX).

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Sabina is the Annenberg Scholar, a member of Film Fatales, Women in Film, and Alliance of Women Directors, and an alumna of the Ryan Murphy Half Directing Mentorship, the Almanack Screenwriters, and the Stowe Story Labs, where she won the Tangerine Entertainment Fellowship.

She received her M.F.A. in Film and TV Production from USC School of Cinematic Arts, and is repped by Kelsey Roberts at Paradigm, Chris Bellant at Waldorf Entertainment, and Hannah Mulderink at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher. 

When not making movies Sabina can be found practicing philosophy, playing dress-up, quoting Balašević, and dancing to the beats of The Hot Sardines, preferably in full 1920s gear, with a good single-malt in hand.