Born in 1994, Tahmina Rafaella is an Azerbaijani filmmaker and actress.

She got her BA in Film Studies & Creative Writing from Pepperdine University, and is an alumna of Berlinale Talents (Sarajevo) and the Williamstown Theatre Festival apprentice program.
In 2015, she started her career by writing and starring in “Inner City”, by Ilgar Safat, a feature film which was funded by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism of Azerbaijan. The
film screened and competed at multiple film festivals around the world.

Her directorial debut, “A Woman”, which she also wrote, produced and acted in, premiered at Palm Springs ShortFest, making her the first independent Azerbaijani female filmmaker whose narrative work competed at Academy Award qualifying film festivals.

“A Woman” won awards at numerous film festivals including “Best Narrative Short” at BendFilm. It was selected to be hosted by Omeleto and Short of the Week, and made her a Finalist for the Sundance Ignite Fellowship. A screenplay that she co-wrote in 2018, “Nadine’s Melody”, was selected as a Second Round candidate for Sundance’s Screenwriters Lab.
“Banu” is her feature film directorial debut.