hello, my name is sylvia:

In short, I’m a feral learner and meaning-maker who lives for love and art—along with making things with radical and kind people that expand the horizon of possibility. Or as Michel Foucault said, “My job is making windows where there were once walls. Knowledge is not for knowing: knowledge is for cutting.”

writer + director bio:

Sylvia Sæther (she/they) is a queer American-Norwegian writer, director, editor, 35mm photographer, creative consultant, and host of the podcast We Don’t Know w/ Sylvia. Born in Northern California, she now works between the U.S. and Europe. Sylvia first began developing her distinctive narrative style in the mid-2000s, directing, shooting, and editing music videos for her friends in the East LA music scene.

A graduate of AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women+, she went on to join Sony Television’s Diverse Directors Program and Film Independent’s Directing Lab, where she was mentored by Catherine Hardwicke. She later participated in Ryan Murphy’s HALF Program, working under Nelson Cragg on American Crime Story: Versace.

Known for emotionally raw and visually intimate storytelling, her films have screened internationally, earning “Best Narrative Short” at LACMA’s Young Directors Night and the Napa Valley Film Festival for King of Norway, a 16mm short that received the Panavision Grant and also screened at Camerimage in Poland. The feature script was later showcased in AFI’s Alumni Script Reading Series and at the New Cinema Network in Rome. Three Nights in Sunlight will mark her feature debut. Sylvia is repped by Anonymous Content.