Natalya Sara Hasson
- Producer
- Director
- Actress
Natalya Sara Cohen is a South African born French and American filmmaker. Having been introduced to the theatre when she was 8 years old, she fell in love with the art of storytelling. Cohen grew up in South Africa, and acted in plays based on African folktales such as Anansi the Spider. At 13, she immigrated to the United States with her family. She enrolled in a Magnet High School, where her focus was in Dramatic Arts. In the summer of 2007, her Drama program was selected to perform Godspell with the American High School Theatre Festival at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. She traveled with her fellow thespians to Scotland. In her senior year of high school, Cohen spent more time on her writing. She was awarded a Scholastic Writing Award for her poetry in 2008. Cohen moved to New York City soon after, enrolling in New York University's Spring program and later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Screenwriting from Brooklyn College. During her time at NYU, she met French/Romaninan filmmaker Marie Constantinesco who she later helped to produce Little Revolutions. This sparked a more serious interest in film production. Although Cohen completed her thesis screenplay, additionally she produced a thesis film which was not a requirement for graduation. Cohen's short silent film Ms. Fantasia the Timekeeper was an experimental art film made to honor one of her favorite filmmakers, Charlie Chaplin. With the guidance of her mentor Prof. Thomas Reilly, a veteran assistant director to Woody Allen, Cohen teamed up with Australian composer Daniel Clive McCallum whose credits include The Hobbit. With a magnificent score written by McCallum, Cohen's short film was premiered in Melbourne, Australia. Sometime after, Cohen decided to spend 2015 traveling around the world before settling in Miami to fund Yalanat Films LLC.