Susie Yankou

{{Short description|Canadian film director}}

Susie Yankou is a Canadian film director and screenwriter currently working in the United States, whose debut feature film Sisters premiered in 2024.Joshua Chong, [https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/she-sold-cookies-as-a-teenager-to-pay-for-film-school-now-shes-back-in/article_c8a426ec-1777-11ef-9537-7f7715a47993.html "She sold cookies as a teenager to pay for film school. Now she’s back in Toronto for her feature film debut"]. Toronto Star, May 23, 2024.

Originally from Toronto, Ontario, as a high school student her goal was to study screenwriting at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, California.Amy Dempsey, [https://www.thestar.com/life/this-aspiring-screenwriter-is-selling-cookies-to-pay-for-film-school/article_e77985e0-f66e-51b7-be27-269e531f653f.html "This aspiring screenwriter is selling cookies to pay for film school"]. Toronto Star, July 4, 2011. Although she was accepted into the program, the $55,000 tuition was prohibitively expensive for her family, so she launched her own fundraising initiative, baking cookies to sell twice a week at the Distillery District and Riverdale farmer's markets.

In California she created and acted in the web series 101 Ways to Get Rejected prior to working on Sisters as her feature directorial debut.

Sisters received a Re:Focus grant from the Inside Out Film and Video Festival in 2022 to assist in the film's production.Valerie Complex, [https://deadline.com/2022/11/inside-out-2slgbtq-film-festival-in-toronto-reveals-8-recipients-of-1235166383/ "Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival In Toronto Reveals 8 Recipients Of The 2022 RE:Focus Fund"]. Deadline Hollywood, November 8, 2022. It premiered in May 2024 at Inside Out,Valerie Complex, [https://deadline.com/2024/05/inside-out-2slgbtq-34th-annual-film-festival-reveals-lineup-1235902870/ "Inside Out 2slgbtq+ 34th Annual Film Festival Reveals Full Lineup"]. Deadline Hollywood, May 3, 2024. where it won the audience award for Best Feature Film.Valerie Complex, [https://deadline.com/2024/06/inside-out-2slgbtq-film-festival-unveils-2024-award-recipients-1235957790/ "‘A Mother Apart’ Wins Top Prize At Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival Awards"]. Deadline Hollywood, June 3, 2024.