Sina Sultani
Age: 36
Ethnicity: Afghan-Canadian
Occupation and/or Company: Producer, Photocell Productions | Production Manager, Sony Pictures Imageworks
Years of experience: 8
Personal & professional philosophy:
Listen to other people’s stories. Listen to their experiences, their successes and failures. People’s journeys can teach more than any textbook and learning from their insights is the very essence of storytelling and the foundation of our civilization. It conveys technical or creative knowledge and when combined with self-reflection it can trigger transformative change.
Upcoming performances/ project:
I’m currently writing, directing and producing my latest short, Paper Planes, which is an animated film set in a world made out of paper where a uniquely-folded young boy struggles to fit in. It’s a semi-autobiographical story that follows my early years in Calgary, Alberta. Through Paper Planes, we established a mentorship program with the goal of helping creatives secure their first position in a VFX or animation studio.
My next project, Trace, is my first feature and in 2021. It’ll participate in the Whistler Film Festival Producers Lab, Reelworld E20 Writers Program and Reykjavik Talent Lab. As a single-room, sci-fi thriller, we’ll be testing the limits of our claustrophobic set as we tell a non-linear narrative about control and defiance. With Paper Planes and Trace, I want to ensure my approach to the production process is more holistic and community-based.
What is the highlight of your work?
Refuge was also my most personal project. Over the years my relationship with my parents has changed (in a good way) and made me more reflective and considerate of their journey. However, being a lover of big sci-fi and all things that boom, I considered how to honour their story through my creative lens. Enter Refuge, an Afghan War of the Worlds with District 9 influences.
When I moved from Edmonton to Vancouver, I had the goal of working on the biggest films in the world. I went from completing a 90 second short to working with MPC Film on the Clint Eastwood-directed feature, Sully. Since then, I’ve worked on productions at ILM and Sony including Space Jam: A New Legacy and the upcoming Spider-Verse sequel, while understanding important production pitfalls, and the inner workings of Hollywood’s biggest studios.
Future goals:
In the next few years I aim to wrap principal photography on my first feature, and to write, direct and produce three additional features alongside an adult, animated series. In ten years I’ll be showrunning a large-scale sci-fi series about the future of immigration and climate change and along the way I’m hoping to discuss a Monsterverse idea with Universal. Then, I will be pitching a cross-property narrative for DC Films that can exist in-parallel to any canon storyline they’re developing at the time. But, my most important objectives are promoting sustainability within film while establishing robust training and mentorship programs for diverse creatives across the globe.
Project brief / teaser:
Trace is a high-stakes, 90-minute, sci-fi thriller shot in a single location. The film follows a battered telephone operator connecting callers across time as she desperately fights to escape an abusive relationship by sending messages to her past and future self. Trace leverages deeply personal experiences to examine society’s gender barriers and patriarchal structures. It’s not enough to simply discuss the issues suffocating our communities.
