Vasily Stepanov

film critic, journalist. Vasily studied at St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium and earned his degree in philology in 2003 from St. Petersburg State University (Finno-Ugric Languages Department). He served as Calendar Magazine’s movie columnist (2003-2005), Time Out Petersburg’s assistant editor-in-chief (2005-2006), and Channel Five’s reporter and announcement editor. In 2006, Vasily joined The Seans Magazine as assistant editor-in-chief and became its editor-in-chief in 2020. Vasily holds the 2007 Levitin Award from the Russian Film Critics Guild.

Yegor Moskvitin

Film critic, “Rules of Life” columnist, Autoradio’s and Channel Culture’s cinema review programme presenter, programming director for Pilot TV Series Festival and Horror Fest, curator of Moscow IFF’s Wild Nights. Yegor started the famous Kinofan film quiz and holds 2013 Levitin Award “Best Young Film Critic” from the Russian Film Critics and Scholars Guild.

Yusup Razykov

Script writer, director, educator, member of the Russian Cinematographers Association’s Script Writers Guild Board, independent film selections moderator, chairman and permanent jury member with Russian and international festivals. Yusup has devoted his life to pushing the boundaries in cinema and is an Honored Worker of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Yuri Yerofeyev

Journalist, television presenter, educator. Over the thirty years of his career as a journalist, Yuri has been a mentor to more than a thousand young journalists in his home town, Murmansk. His 25 documentaries are based on real life stories, showing real people facing moral choices and staying true to their faith in Russia. Yuri was among the organizers of the Northern Character IFF, which started in 2008, and holds the Russian President Certificate of Merit (2020) for his prolific contribution to the domestic mass media. Yuri’s contribution to promoting the domestic children’s television earned him the membership in Ostankino Children’s Television Academy.