Julia Loktev (born December 12, 1969) is a RussianâÂÂAmerican film director, screenwriter, and video artist.
Julia Loktev was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now St. Petersburg, Russia) in a Jewish family. She immigrated to the United States as a child and lived in Colorado until leaving for college. She moved to Montreal to study English and film at McGill University. She received an M.F.A. from the Graduate Film Program at New York University.
In 1998 Loktev directed the documentary Moment of Impact, inspired by her father who was severely injured in an automobile accident. The documentary won the Documentary Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Prize at Cinéma du Réel.
Loktev was resident at Eyebeam in 2005. In 2006, she directed Day Night Day Night, which premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 59th Cannes Film Festival, being recognized with the Prix Regard Jeune. The film was critically acclaimed, winning several film festival competitions and an Independent Spirit Award.
Loktev received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2009.
In 2011, Loktev adapted the short story Expensive Trips Nowhere into the film The Loneliest Planet. The film competed in several international film festivals, winning the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles and being nominated at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. In 2015, Richard Brody called her one of the best woman movie directors.
In 2024 Loktev directed the documentary film , being critically acclaimend, winning several accolades, including the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary.