Olivera Darden

Olivera is a short film director and theatre artist based in NYC. In May 2025, she graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Sociology. She comes from a background in theatrical performance and producing. This past fall, she directed and produced her college's production of SPRING AWAKENING. As a filmmaker, Olivera specializes in directing, cinematography, and editing. Her films often highlight the lives of young women, growing pains, and the sweetness of friends. In her original work, Olivera plans to continue orbiting the edges of the coming-of-age genre. Last spring, she served on the student jury for the Best Emerging Filmmaker Award at Film at Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, where she had the opportunity to view the 10 features by first- or second-time directors in the festival’s line-up and select an award winner with her fellow jurors. This position also exposed her to the behind-the-scenes of festival programming, including selecting films, utilizing press kits, engaging a diverse crowd of movie-goers, and the role of festivals in achieving distribution.