With a strong background in animation and visual effects, Sandy Widyanata is a commercial and film director whose experience supervising teams of animators, compositors, and 3D artists has led to her ability to direct films with visual effects heavy components. This makes her a rare female helmer in the otherwise male dominated animation and CG scene.

Sandy studied at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), Australia’s premier film school. Her short film Plastic has won multiple awards and screened at over 50 film festivals around the world. In 2009 Sandy received a Visual Effects Society Award in the student category, which was introduced by Steven Spielberg. She was also nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award (AFI/AACTA) and won an Australian Effects and Animation Award (AEAF) in 2010. She came on to the scene in 2012 with her Amblin-style short film, Project M.I.C.K., which was runner up at the Cannes Lions Young Director Award.

Sandy started her career in film and television as a production assistant for West Deutscher Rundfunk (WDR), one of Germany’s main public television broadcasters, while commencing a B.A. in film and communications at the University of Bochum, Germany in 1998. Shortly after she made a short animated film, which was invited to screen at a film festival in Sydney, Australia. She traveled with the film, found work as a designer and visual effects artist and made Down Under her new home.

Sandy has directed commercials for such clients like ABC Australia, HTC, Greenpeace and Cadbury. Her commercial work won a Golden Promax and Bronze AWARD.

Since she booked Lionsgate and Temple Hill’s project, Goodbye For Now, written by Jonathan Tropper, she won the studio assignment by solely producing and directing a short film based on the script. In 2016, Sandy was hired by Strange Weather Films to direct Monument 14, the first film of the series, based on the sci-fi book trilogy by author Emmy Laybourne, adapted by Laybourne and director Brad Peyton.

Sandy is set to direct The Way Between, written and produced by Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lee (Frozen), with Tooley Productions financing.

Born to Chinese-Indonesian parents, Sandy Widyanata is a German/ Australian filmmaker based in Los Angeles.