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Angelica Cinematographer · Director · Editor

click the things on my shelf

Angelica Sarkisyan: filmmaker, artist and inventor. Click the things on the shelf to explore.

About me

Hi, I'm Angelica.

Portrait of Angelica Sarkisyan
that's me!

I'm a Ukrainian-born cinematographer, director and editor: an award-winning filmmaker and photographer, music producer, songwriter, interactive web and game designer and developer, and ethical hacker.

Roots

I grew up in the fading light of the Soviet Union. I remember the Chernobyl broadcasts on our television, and standing in Moscow's Red Square during the August Coup. In a world where silence was survival, the camera became my way of speaking.

The mystic lens

I studied Film, Art and Anthropology at UCLA, with an exchange year of international cinema at Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas. In Paris I studied psychomagic and filmmaking with Alejandro Jodorowsky, which taught me to treat cinema as alchemy: surrealism, archetypes and ritual. I also learned from Christopher Coppola, Jared Diamond, Ray Bradbury and Leonard Cohen.

The Zen decade

I met Zen Master Joshu Sasaki Roshi when he was 95. For 12 years, until his death at 107, I was the official photographer and videographer of Rinzai-ji Zen Center, following him to retreats and dawn meditations. It was there that Leonard Cohen, a longtime student of Roshi, became a friend. Those years taught me stillness as a way of telling stories.

Stories on sacred ground

As a cultural anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, I spent 15 years travelling and living with Native American tribes. In 2012 elders invited me to record their oral histories, rituals and sacred songs, which became The Bridge Project, now recognized by 29 tribes. That work led Christopher Coppola to invite me to make a film for his PAH Film Festival, where Cahuenga, Place of the Hill won Best Film and Best Score.

Now

Today I run Nirvana Vision, a woman-owned creative studio blending ancestral storytelling, AI-assisted filmmaking and spatial design. Off the clock you'll find me painting, DJing, making music, animating, coding, digging into OSINT puzzles or inventing things.

  • Based in Los Angeles · born in Ukraine
  • Education BA Film / Art & Anthropology, UCLA · AA Film & Video, LACC · AA Photography, Santa Monica College
  • Studio Nirvana Vision · Visual Art Solutions

Painting

[A few canvases I love]

[One line about how and what you paint: medium, themes, what painting gives you.]

[Painting 1 title]
[Title, year, medium]
[Painting 2 title]
[Title, year, medium]
[Painting 3 title]
[Title, year, medium]

Photography

Award-winning photography, from galleries to ceremonies.

From a solo show at the Pacific Design Center to 12 years photographing ceremonies at Rinzai-ji, my photography is about witnessing moments that might otherwise be lost.

[Photo 1 description]
[Photo 2 description]
[Photo 3 description]
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Awards & press

  • 2015 Winner, Magnum Photography Awards
  • 2012 Published in Cultured Magazine
  • 2009 Featured in Coil Magazine
  • 2008 Featured in Porter Gulch Review
  • 2006 Best Collage Photography

Exhibitions

  • 2017 Photoplay, group show, The Hive Gallery
  • 2011 Artist in residence, The Hive Gallery & Machine Project
  • 2011 Photo L.A., Los Angeles
  • 2011 Outsider Art, Hozhoni Art Gallery
  • 2010 Lithium, solo show, Pacific Design Center

Filmmaking

Ancient wisdom. Neural cinema.

Award-winning cinematographer, director and editor: documentaries rooted in cultural anthropology and traditional knowledge, plus broadcast, branded content and music videos.

Poster for the film Cahuenga, Place of the Hill
  • Dreams of the HydraDirector, producer, cinematographer. A surrealist short: Best Film at FLICKR LA "Attack of the 50 Foot Reels" (2007) and Echo Park Film Center "Mobile Cinema" (2008). Screened at the Egyptian Theatre, American Cinematheque and Steve Allen Theatre.
  • Cahuenga, Place of the HillDirector, producer, cinematographer. Made with the Tataviam Tribal Nation. Best Film and Best Score at Coppola's PAH Film Fest (2012).
  • The Legend of TomirisEditor and VFX artist. Best Feature Film and Best Action in a Foreign Film at the Taurus Awards, and Best Film at L'Étrange Festival (2020).
  • The Bridge ProjectA 29-tribe oral-history documentary series. I directed, filmed and edited over 100 hours of interviews with elders.
  • The World of CinemaDirector of photography, camera operator and editor for this Turkish Public Television (TRT) series.
  • Brands & music videosJade City: The Story of Jadeite (branded documentary), Saryna Key "The Crown" beauty campaign, and music videos for DJ Havana Brown.

Tools Premiere Pro · After Effects · DaVinci Resolve · Lightroom · Photoshop · Illustrator

Music & DJ

Producer, songwriter, DJ.

I write and produce my own songs, and I DJ. [A line about your sound: genres, influences, where you play.]

  1. [Song title] [Written & produced by me, year]
  2. [Song title] [Written & produced by me, year]
  3. [DJ set or mix name] [Venue / date]

Animation

From thaumatropes to real-time 3D.

I love the whole lineage of moving pictures, from spinning optical toys to Unreal Engine worlds, and I make VFX, motion graphics and 3D characters for films, campaigns and the web.

[A few lines about your own animation work and a project you're proud of.]

[Animation still 1]
[Project, year]
[Animation still 2]
[Project, year]
[Animation still 3]
[Project, year]

Tools After Effects · Cinema 4D · Element 3D · Blender · Unreal Engine · Character Creator · Substance · Adobe Dimension

Web & games

Interactive worlds you can click, play and explore.

I design and develop interactive websites and games: Webflow, WordPress and Elementor builds, UI/UX, interactive portfolios, and real-time 3D in Unreal Engine and Blender.

Hollywood Film Academy website preview

Hollywood Film Academy

An online learning platform and lecture series that I built, filmed and produced.

[Game title] screenshot

[Game title]

[What the game is, what you built it with, and a link to play.]

Inventions

[Things I've dreamed up and built]

[One line about why you invent: the problems you like to solve.]

[Invention 1]

[Invention 1]

[What it does and how it came about.]

[Invention 2]

[Invention 2]

[What it does and how it came about.]

[Invention 3]

[Invention 3]

[What it does and how it came about.]

Ethical hacking & OSINT

Finding what's hidden, the right way.

I'm an ethical hacker and open-source intelligence (OSINT) researcher. The same curiosity that drives my documentaries drives this: following the clues, verifying sources, and piecing together the real story.

[A few lines about what you focus on: e.g. security testing, digital footprint audits, investigations, CTFs, certifications.]

Awards & impact

Stories that give something back.

Fifteen years of living and working alongside Native American communities shaped everything I make.

Mentors

The teachers on my shelf.

The books and records here belong to the people who shaped how I see, listen and tell stories.

Studio manager

Meet Wookie.

Wookie, a small orange Pomeranian, smiling in a shopping cart
Wookie

My Pomeranian, Wookie, is small, fluffy and always on set, supervising every edit, every DJ set and every painting from the studio floor.

Wookie stretching on a grey sofa

Say hello

Let's make something that matters.

Open to films, websites, commissions and collaborations, or just a good conversation.