Adilkhan Yerzhanov was born in Kazakhstan in 1982. He studied directing at the National Academy of the Arts. His films have been selected twice by the Cannes Film Festival - The Owners, in the special screenings in 2014, and The Gentle Indifference of the World, for Un Certain Regard in 2018. In 2016, The Plague at the Karatas Village had its world premiere in Rotterdam in 2016 and Yellow Cat at the Venice Film Festival in 2020. A Dark, Dark Man won the Asia Pacific Screen Award in 2019 for the best directing.