Esterhazy is a director know for her female-driven stories. She began her film studies at the Winnipeg Film Group - the quirky cooperative which also produced filmmakers Guy Maddin and John Paizs. Esterhazy is a graduate of the Director's Lab at the Canadian Film Centre - the renowned film school founded by Norman Jewison. In 2004, Esterhazy won the National Screen Institute's Drama Prize for her short film "The Snow Queen". In 2008, she won the Kodak New Vision Award presented by Women in Film and Television - Toronto. Esterhazy's first feature film, Black Field, won the Best Feature Drama Award at Vancouver's Women in Film Festival and won the Best Canadian Feature Award at the Female Eye Film Festival. Esterhazy is also part of the pUNK Film Femmes Lab -- a screenwriting initiative for women filmmakers founded by Ingrid Veninger and funded by Oscar winning actress Melissa Leo.