Martyna Czaplak is a Vancouver-based director, producer, and production manager with a background that spans documentary filmmaking, film operations, and business administration. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Langara College and has been working in film production across British Columbia and internationally since 2016. The combination is not incidental: her business training shapes how she runs a production, and her years on set and in the edit shape how she approaches every operational decision.
As a director, her films are built on close listening and extended presence with her subjects. Her CBC-funded short A-Yi follows an unlikely friendship between an elderly Chinese can collector and a group of millennial roommates in East Vancouver, observed over time with patience and quiet affection. Her feature documentary The Prop Master's Dream, co-produced through Saltwater City Films, follows master performer Rosa Cheng as she works to revive Cantonese Opera in a rapidly changing Chinatown. The film is the result of a decade of relationship-building in that community, beginning with documentary work for the Chinese Storytelling Centre and continuing through to production.
As a producer and production manager, she has overseen domestic and international productions end to end: scheduling, site logistics, permitting, crew coordination, budget management, and compliance documentation. She has conducted location assessments and technical surveys, managed contracts and insurance records, liaised with municipal contacts and community stakeholders, and ensured that productions wrap cleanly with property and relationships intact. Her approach to operations is grounded in the same discipline she brings to directing: clear communication, careful documentation, and genuine respect for the communities a production moves through.
From 2018 to 2021 she served as Project Manager and Communications Coordinator for the Documentary Organization of Canada, BC Chapter, supporting governance structures, coordinating industry programming, and managing stakeholder communications across a diverse membership. More recently she produced educational media for First Peoples Law, coordinating with legal professionals and subject matter experts to deliver accurate, carefully managed institutional content. She has also produced corporate and branded work for Fairmont Pacific Rim, Lululemon, and Shape Properties.
