Résumé
Filmmaker, visual artist
Address: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Biography:
Malaz Usta is a filmmaker, a designer and a visual artist, working with film, graphics, animation, poetry, editing, and sound. He was born in Damascus, Syria. He studied TV, and Cinema in Istanbul, and he obtained his Master's of Film degree at the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam. His works deal with different issues of displacement, and ideas of belonging, identity, home, and absurdity.
Upcoming & Recent shows:
Dec 24 - space_invaders.exe - Festival Tous Courts, Aix-en-Provence, Fr
03 - 10 Dec 24 - space_invaders.exe - Bogota Short Film Festival, Col
11 - 23 Dec 24 - space_invaders.exe - Beijing Int’l Short Film Festival, Ch
26 Oct - 03 Nov 24 - space_invaders.exe - Ji.hlava Intl Documentary Film Festival, Cz
05 Oct 24 - space_invaders.exe - Plons! Intl Documentary Film Festival, Leeuwarden, NL
02 Oct 24 - Why don’t the numbers go down? - Artistic Research 15 years, IDFA Pavilion, Amsterdam, NL
21, 22 Sep 24 - invaders_galactica - Netherlands Film Festival, Utrecht, NL
16 Sep 24 - The Diary Film, Guest Lecturer - Leiden University, The Hague, NL
29 Jun 24 - Why don’t the numbers go down? - Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, NL
26 Jun - 03 Jul - A land unfamiliar (Installation) - Netherlands Film Academy, Ams, NL
Jun 24 - space_invaders.exe - Leiden Shorts, Leiden, NL
01 Feb 24 - space_invaders.exe - IFFR, Rotterdam, NL
Education:
The Netherlands Film Academy, Amsterdam
Master’s of Film, Artistic Research in and Through Cinema, 2024
Marmara University, Istanbul
Bachelor of Arts in Television and Cinema, 2022
Damascus University, Damascus
Bachelor of Pharmacy, 2015
Filmography:
space invaders (2024)
A Year in Exile (2020)
Professional Experience:
2024 Freelancer Artist - De Vrolijkheid - Amsterdam, NL
2022 - Present Designer - 04 Studio - Amsterdam, NL
2021 - 2022 Graphic designer, motion graphics designer - Reveal Interactive - Toronto, CA
2016 - 2021 Graphic designer, video editor - Sahara Design Agency - Riyadh, SA
Grants & Residencies:
Sound Image Culture Laboratory, Brussels, 2025
IDFA Academy, 2024
ReCNTR Lab Multimodal research program, 2024
Atelier 105 Residency Program, Light Cone, Paris, 2023
AHK Talent Grant, Amsterdam University of the Arts, 2022
Erasmus+ BIP Project, Bauhaus University Weimar, 2022
Award selection:
Best International Experimental Film, Special Mention Award - Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Best International Short Documentary - Cinéma Vérité / Iran International Documentary Film Festival
Best National Short Documentary - Bosphorus International Film Festival
Jury Awary - Istanbul International Film Festival
Best International Short Documentary - Encounters International Documentary Film Festival
Best Editor - Kinoki International Film Festival
Best Experimental Short - Adana Golden Boll Film Festival
Best Experimental Film - Big Muddy Film Festival
Jury Award - Lisbon Festival internacional Signos de la Noche
Best International Documentary - MUISFF
