Born in
Kamin-Kashyrskyi in the
Volyn Oblast. He graduated of the
Ivan Karpenko-Kary National University of Theatre, Film and TV in Kyiv in 1993 in the actor's class (tutor: Valentyna Zymniya) and finished the film directing course for feature films (tutor: Leonid Osyka) in 1998. He made his internships in the
Netherlands and the United States. In the years 1994–2000 he worked as a film director, director of photography, director of the production in the feature and documentary films' section of the Ukrainian branch of the international organisation
Internews Network (presently
Internews). He produced several dozen documentaries (e.g. for such stations as Internews Network,
Canal+, the Ukrainian TV channel
1+1,
NTV,
TNT,
Polsat,
DALAS studio,
IKON,
PRO Helvecia). He was the director of photography of several documentary films and directed a few documentary and feature
short films. Sanin presides over the Ukrainian Association of Young Cinematographers. He plays the
bandura,
torban,
hurdy-gurdy and follows the
Volhynia tradition of hurdy-gurdy players. He used to make musical instruments himself, mastering the craft of his grandfather. Using the pseudonym Oleś Smyk (), he is a member of the
Kyiv Kobzar Gild. Two of his feature films, the debut
Mamay (2003) and
The Guide (2014), were official Ukrainian entries for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The Guide about the fate of Ukrainian
kobzars was premiered on October 10, 2014 at the 30th
Warsaw Film Festival. == Awards and honors ==