Darya Zhuk left Minsk, Belarus, at the age of 16 to study in the US. Six years later with a cum laude B.A. degree from Harvard University, Darya Zhuk started making films first as a video artist, then as a producer and today as a director. She is a proud honors graduate of Columbia University MFA program in Directing. She strives to tell fun, unapologetically messy stories about always strong, diverse, and sometimes shocking women. Her debut feature film Crystal Swan was the first Belarus entry into the Oscars Best Foreign Language category in 22 years. Crystal Swan premiered at Karlovy Vary and won dozens of prizes around the world.