Kazakh actress, Samal Yeslyamova is viewed as efficient, strong and very hard on herself by her colleagues and friends. The actress, who won the best actress title at the Cannes Film Festival, was born in northern Kazakhstan. She dreamt of becoming a journalist in childhood. However, she entered theater college instead. After graduation, she headed to Moscow.

SAMAL YESLYAMOVA, KAZAKH ACTRESS:
- I had to get higher education after college, and I decided that I should try to study in Moscow. Whether it would work or not, it does not matter. I did it so that later I won’t regret about not trying it. Well, I tried and was accepted into the university. After graduation, Sergei Vladimirovich invited me to star in his second film.

Samal plays her part wholeheartedly. She is absorbed by the acting process both physically and emotionally. Her hard work was observed once again on the set of the film "Ayka", which earned Samal world fame and the title of the best actress of the 71st Cannes Film Festival. The film was shot in winter and she performed barefoot for hours walking in snow. According to film director Sergei Dvortsevoy, her talent and strong personality helped the young actress to cope with difficult characters.

SERGEI DVORTSEVOY, RUSSIAN FILM DIRECTOR:
- The Kazakh land gave birth to such a strong person. She is very strong inside, and she does not give up. I immediately knew that she can do it not only when she was starring in “Tulpan", but in this film, "Ayka", which was showcased in Cannes.

The world film community started talking about Samal’s talent in 2008 after she started in ‘Tulpan,’ directed by Sergei Dvortsevoy. The feature film was also presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and won the Un Certain Regard. 10 years later, the Kazakh actress impressed the international film critics once again with her performance in the psychological drama, ‘Ayka. The film’s plot is based on the tragic story of a Kyrgyz woman illegally living in Moscow. Samal even went to Kyrgyzstan to further learn about her role.

SERGEI DVORTSEVOY, RUSSIAN FILM DIRECTOR:
- What a great job she has done! I assigned her to visit Kyrgyzstan and she had lived there for some time. She learned how to speak in Kyrgyz.

This fall, the feature film, "Ayka" is will be shown in Kazakhstan, Russia, Germany, Poland and China.