Mélanie Akoka is a French writer, director and cinematographer of North-African descent, currently based in New Orleans. She studied philosophy at the Sorbonne before working at a post-production and film lab where she developed her passion for film. She recently graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her latest film, Yearlings, premiered at San Sebastian Film Festival. Since she joined NYU, she served as cinematographer on many short films which played at festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, TIFF and SXSW. She recently won the Nestor Almendros award for best female cinematography and is the recipient of the 2021 Arri Volker Bahnemann award for outstanding cinematography. Melanie recently completed photography on her first feature, Basileia, for award-winning director Isabella Torre, premiering at Venice Days 2024.