Biography
Daniel Kokotajlo is a British film writer and director. He wrote and directed the 2017 drama Apostasy, which draws on his experience growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, and the 2023 folk horror film Starve Acre, an adaptation of Andrew Michael Hurley's novel.
Kokotajlo studied textiles and fine art at Manchester Metropolitan University, graduating in 2003, and screenwriting and film production at the University of Westminster, completing an MA in 2010. He has also directed short films under the name Dan P. K. Smyth.
Apostasy won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Best First Screenplay and received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. It was also nominated for six British Independent Film Awards.
