Yuliya Solntseva

(1901–1989) was an actress and film director. She made her cinema debut starring in Aelita (1924); since 1926, she starred in Ukrainian films produced by VUFKU. Her last work as an actress was in the film Earth (1930) by her husband Oleksandr Dovzhenko. Later, she helped Dovzhenko with his works. After his death, she directed the film Poem of the Sea (1958), which Dovzhenko had started. In 1961, she became the first woman to win the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her film Chronicle of Flaming Years (1961).