Born in Konstanz, Germany, to an Iranian German family, Shamila Lengsfeld’s passion for cinema ignited early. At just 14, she joined the film club of a local art house cinema, immersing herself in youth programming, projection, and her first film projects.

After high school, she completed a film theater management apprenticeship and worked as a projectionist across various cinemas before pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Filmmaking at the SAE Institute in Cologne.

Driven by her fascination with technology and visual storytelling, Shamila developed a distinctive voice that merges genAI  and filmmaking. Her breakout short film Blake (2017), a bold VFX infused ode to queer resilience, won the German Newcomer Film Award and was praised by critics as “a middle finger to cookie cutter genre tropes.”

As an early adopter of generative AI in filmmaking, Shamila develops hybrid workflows that combine traditional production, VFX and AI across development, pre-production, production and post-production. Alongside her own films, she works internationally as a lecturer and creative technologist, teaching AI filmmaking at institutions and industry programmes including TorinoFilmLab, First Steps and has presented workshops and masterclasses in the context of the Berlinale.

A central focus of her work is exploring how emerging technologies can expand cinematic possibilities and empower independent and underrepresented filmmakers, while keeping storytelling, performance and human experience at the centre.