Sandra Itäinen is a Finnish film director, producer, and editor based in New York City. Sandra’s directorial feature debut COMING AROUND premiered at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival 2023, nominated for the Golden Alexander, and is currently in the festival circuit (Audience Award Winner at NewFest, Director’s Choice Award at Cinema Diverse etc.). Documentary editing credits include TOMBOY (SXSW, 2020), award-winning KELET (DocPoint, 2020), the short film THE WATER KNOWS (Indie Memphis, 2021), as well as the documentary series BREAKTHROUGH: WOMEN CHANGING THE GAME (Insight TV, UK), among others. In 2021, she directed the short documentary series NOITAPIIRIT (eng. COVENS) to critical acclaim for Finnish YLE. Sandra’s first documentary short THE WEAVEOLOGIST (2016) screened at multiple film festivals, among others DOC NYC. She is the associate producer of DARK MONEY (dir. Kimberly Reed) which premiered at Sundance 2018, nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Before moving into film, Sandra worked as a journalist for Finnish YLE. She works to amplify women’s voices through filmmaking, and challenges false societal dichotomies by focusing on themes revolving around identity and family through a millennial lens. She holds an MFA in Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts and an MSS from the University of Helsinki.
