Bio
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, amongst others.
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 and screened at over 30 festivals worldwide, winning Director’s Choice at the 2006 Crossroads Film Festival. It's currently streaming on multiple platforms, including Amazon, iTunes, and Seed&Spark.
Her subsequent works include a music video for Nouvelle Vague’s BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD; commercials for ESPN and IFP Media Center; numerous short and feature screenplays; and a dozen short films, including VARIABLES, whose accolades include: Alfred P. Sloan Production Grant, DGA Student Awards Grand Prize, Student Academy Awards Semifinalist, and 2020 HUMANITAS Prize Nomination.
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 / Fox Searchlight); alongside Gregory Crewdson on his photo opus CATHEDRAL OF THE PINES; as an Associate Producer for Walter Mosley and Diane Houslin at B.O.B. Filmhouse; and she shadowed James Whitmore Jr. on MADAM SECRETARY (CBS) and Sarah Boyd on 9-1-1 (FOX).
Sabina received multiple awards for her work, including the Annenberg Fellowship, Cagney & Lacey Fellowship, AAUW Grant, FEBA Road Map Award, Dana and Albert R. Broccoli Scholarship, MSN/ Visa Ideas Happen Award, and grants from Jerome Foundation, Puffin Foundation, NYSCA/IFP, and LMCC.
Most recently she was selected for the Ryan Murphy Half Directing Mentorship and Nantucket Screenwriters Colony, and was awarded the 2019 Stowe Story Lab Tangerine Fellowship for her feature screenplay For Buraz.
She's a member of Film Fatales, Women in Film, WiMPS, and Lincoln Center Directors Lab. She received her M.F.A. in Film and TV Production from USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Sabina spends whatever free time she has left studying philosophy, shopping in her closet, and dancing to the beats of The Hot Sardines.
"Artist's job is to disturb the comforted, and comfort the disturbed."
~ Stephen Gyllenhaal