Laura Esteban is an award-winning Galician documentary filmmaker based in London. She studied Audiovisual Communication at the University of Santiago de Compostela and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, before establishing herself as a self-shooting director in the city.

She later moved to London to pursue her deepest creative commitment: documentary. There, she completed her MA in Documentary Film at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, graduating with her debut film Daughters of the Sea — a short documentary highly commended at the Grierson Awards 2022, nominated at 14 international festivals, and winner of 4 awards. The film was commissioned by the Council of A Coruña within its education department. In 2025, she was selected for the UnionDocs Research and Development Lab, where she began developing her new feature documentary — a project she continues to work on today.

Having worked across independent production, commercial content, and projects produced for broadcasters and institutions including BBC, Discovery Education and The Open University, Laura brings a versatile production background to her documentary practice.

Her films are non-fiction, character-driven works centred on women — stories that unfold across different realities, from Japan to Spain. Whether documenting short-format lives in rural Japan or sexist discrimination along the Galician coast, Laura's work is driven by a sustained interest in the female condition, structural gender inequality, and the porous boundary between reality and fiction.

AWARDS
‘Daughters of the Sea’ (Spain/UK, 2021)
Highly commended in the Grierson Awards 2022
Best Student Documentary in London City Film Awards 2022
Best Short Documentary in Toronto International Women Film Festival 2022
Best Director in First Women Film Festival 2022
Best Short Documentary in Women Directors Film Carnival 2022
Special Mention Social Documentary in Premios Miquel Fàbregues 2022
Finalist in Directed By Women Turkey 2022
Semi-finalist in London Indie Short Festival 2022
Semi-finalist in Stockholm Short Festival 2022
Semi-finalist in Paris Women Festival 2022
Official Selection in Women's Film Festival (Newark) 2022
Official Selection in Women Cinema and Arts International Film Festival 2022
Official Selection in Madrid Indie Film Festival (MADRIFF) 2022
Official Selection in Fescilmar Poland 2022

EXHIBITIONS
-‘Daughters of the Sea’ - Lethaby Gallery (2 de noviembre 2022, London)
- ‘Naked Perspectives: uncovering the stories of everyday life’ - Gallery 46 (5 de mayo 2023, London)

PRESS
- London against the war

- Galicia: Women of the Coast

“We were completely immersed in this well-paced, generational family story which absorbed viewers into the lives of this community. Laura has a really strong grasp of their craft and storytelling, creating a very professionally executed film.”
Judges' Citation, The Grierson Awards 2022