Born to an Indonesian father and a Polish mother, Soma Helmi hails from Bali, Indonesia.

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She works frequently with Catherine Hardwicke as a creative consultant, most recently Ms. Hardwicke’s feature Mafia Mamma (2022) for Bleecker Street. Soma's work has screened at Sundance, Hollyshorts, Outfest and Amazon's New Voices Film Festival among many others. She has shadowed directors on multiple shows including - Homeland (Lesli Linka Glatter), Greys Anatomy (Debbie Allen), Good Trouble (Marco Fargnoli) and School Spirits (Brian Dannelly). 

 

Soma began her career working as an Art Director for J. Walter Thompson in Jakarta (2004), where her clients were Unilever and Pfizer. Starting in 2010, she would go on to direct commercial spots for Google, Klondike, Nike, Chevrolet, and Campbell's.

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She is a 2021-2023 Paramount Viewfinder Directors Program fellow and was named one of the “8 directors to watch” by Alliance of Women Directors. Soma is on the 2021 CAPE List x Blacklist and was recently the recipient of the inaugural CAPE Julia Gouw and Janet Yang short film challenge grant. 

 

Soma’s passion is to tell character driven stories and furthering representation on the screen, especially that of the Asian experience. She has just returned from directing all 8 episodes of Still Single, a new Indonesian drama set for streaming in 2024.