JURY CHAIR

Ms. VERA STOROZHEVA, screenwriter, director, producer, actress (Russia)

Vera Storozheva is known as the author of many award-winning films that screened in Russia and abroad at Moscow International Film Festival “Golden Saint George” (Top Award), FIPRESCI (winner), TEFI (winner), to name a few.

2002:  Sky. Plane. Girl, a remake of the Soviet film Once More About Love, followed by New Year’s comedy Frenchman that nominated in several categories at TEFI and Golden Eagle festivals.

2005: comedy/romance Love Me, drama Greek Holidays.

2007: Traveling With Pets.

2012: 12-episode melodrama Divorce.

2016: melodramas In The Access Zone To Love, A House With All Inconveniences.

2018: The Cipher.

Mr. JONATHAN ALAN SOLWAY, stage and film actor.

Jonathan trained as an actor at the Drama Studio in London and at the University of California. He has worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theater, and toured a lot in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Jonathan is Artistic Director of the Moscow English Theatre where he has acted and appeared in several shows at the Mayakovsky Theatre and the RAYT in Moscow.

He appeared in multiple films including Anton Megerdichev’s Going Vertical, Nikolay Khomeriki’s The Ninth, Valery Fokin’s Petropolis, Natalia Nazarova’s multi-award-winning Plakat’ Nelzya, and TV projects Eastenders (UK), Londongrad (Russia), Happy End (Russia’s MoreTV), and recently released TV series Mission Amethyst (as Sheppard) that screened on Channel One.

Ms. ELENA PANOVA, stage and film actress.

Arkhangelsk-born Elena Panova earned her acting degree in 1999 from the Moscow Academic Art Theater School (class of Oleg Yefremov) and joined the Chekhov Art Theater in Moscow where she served until 2012. Elena debuted in movies 1997 with New Year’s Story. She played the lead in Daniel Schmid’s Berezina, Or The Last Days of Switzerland (1999). Her role as Galina Zhgut in Alexander Mitta’s TV series Frontier. The Taiga Romance (2000) and as Vika Ermakova in Alexey Sidorov’s Fighting The Shadow (2005) brought her fame. The former landed her the National Prize in Literature and Art (2001).

Filmography: Doctor Tyrsa, Metro, Shuttle Girls, The Time Of The Firsts, The Cipher, Ask The Nurse, The Heart of Parma. The latter earned Elena the nomination for Golden Eagle’s Best Supporting Actress (2023).

Mr. MIKHAIL TROFIMENKOV, film expert and critic.

Mikhail holds a PhD in Art History. He has co-authored The Great Russian Encyclopedia and The Contemporary History of the Russian Cinematography: 1986-2000.

Mikhail earned his degree in art history in 1988 from the Arts History Department of A.A. Zhdanov Leningrad State University and completed his post-graduate studies in 1992 at the Leningrad State Institute of Stage Acting, Music and Cinematography (PhD thesis: “New Wave as a Phenomenon of French Film Culture of the late 1950s – early 1960s”, supervisor: Associate Professor Ya.B. Ioskevich, major: 17.00.03 Television and Cinematography, opponents: R.D. Kopylova, D.Sc. (Art History) and A.S. Shcheglov, PhD (Art History), external reviewer: All-Union Research Institute of Film Studies.

1997-1999: University of Metz (France), faculty member.

2000 – presently: Kommersant Publlishing House, columnist.

Mikhail’s articles appeared in Mitin Journal, Iskusstvo Kino, Seans, Teatralnaya Zhizn, Petersburgskii Teatralny Journal,  Iskusstvo, Pulse Petersburga. He is an editorial board member with Seans and supervises Kinotavr’s international film selections.

JURY CHAIR

ALEXEY ROMANOV, producer, director, screenwriter, Far Eastern Federal District Film Commission, Chairman

Alexey earned his degree in acting from the Altai State Institute of Culture and his degree in film direction from the National Institute of Cinematography (class of S. Gerasimov).

He is the founder of National Film Company SAKHAFILM, originally known as Severfilm association, where he currently serves as Artistic Director since 1992. Director at Arctic Cinema Film Production Center LLC, Chairman of the Sakha Republic Filmmakers Association (since 1996), Far Eastern Federal District Film Commission, Chairman; full member of the Russian Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences “Golden Eagle” and the Russian Academy of Cinematographic Arts “Nika”; Honored Cinematographer of Russia, Yakutia (Sakha) Honored Worker of Culture and Arts; member of the Russian Film Directors’ Guild. Alexey authors more than 20 feature films, documentaries, and popular science films including Maappa, Ortho Doidu, Shaman’s Dream, Dyesegei suolunan, A Childhood We Never Knew, to name a few.

Alexey assisted director Alexey Balabanov in The River.

Mr. ALEXANDER BURTSEV, film director, screenwriter.

Producer, musician, member of the Russian Cinematographers Association – Directors Guild, Deboshir Film CEO, general producer for Deboshir Film Festival. Between 1980 and 1983, Alexander served as the production manager and actor at the Valdai People Theater and first appeared as a crowd scene actor in Za Schastyem (Lenfilm, 1983). He earned his degree in film direction from the National Institute of Cinematography (class of Marlen Khutsiev, 1988). In partnership with Alexander Bashirov, Alexander started the independent film festival DeboshirFilm. Pure Dreams, which has evolved into an international film venue.

Ms. DALI OKROPIRIDZE, film expert and critic, cultural professional of Georgia.

Dali studied film arts at Georgia’s Shota Rustaveli Theater Institute and graduated as a film scholar. She interned with Hristo Sarafov Academy of Theater and Cinema (Bulgaria, Sofia) and served as a Georgian films representative in Bulgaria.

Dali served at the Chief Directorate for Cinematography and Gruzinsky Film magazine. She delivers lectures at Shota Rustaveli Institute of Theater and Cinema in Georgia, hosts Cinema and Theater Music sessions on Georgian Television (Channel II), and contributes to the Georgian Cinema Days as an organizer and participant alongside some of the most famous Georgian actors. Dali is a member of the Expert Board of the Moscow International Theater Festival “Golden Knight” and contributes to the major Russia-based international film festivals as a jury member.

Ms. MARINA FOTIEVA, casting director.

Marina started her career in film industry in 1986 as a Mosfilm’s assistant director. Her first experience as a casting director was with Alexander Surin’s Arsonists (1987). Marina currently serves as Casting Director and agent at Pi-Art agency and hold membership in the Russian Cinematographers Association.

JURY CHAIRMAN

ALEXEY FEDORCHENKO, director, producer.

Alexey holds membership in the Russian Cinematographers Association, Russian Film Directors Guild, KinoSoyuz, Asia-Pacific Film Academy, and European Film Academy. He earned his degree in engineering from the Ural Institute of Technology Faculty of Engineering and Economics, and his degree in screenwriting from the National Institute of Cinematography. Alexey worked as an economist, film director, producer, and assistant manager at Sverdlovsk Film Studio. In 2005 he joined February 29 film company as a producer and director. Alexey made his directorial debut with feature film First On The Moon, which earned him the nominee and winner status in multiple festivals including Kinotavr. His drama Ovsyanki (2010) premiered in Venice and received as many as three awards — The Golden Osella (Best Camerawork), FIPRESCI, and the Ecumenical Jury Award. Another film, The Angels of the Revolution (2014), screened at the festival in Rome and landed the special Marcus Aurelius Award, and Anna’s War won the top award from Kinotavr (Sochi, Russia). Alexey leads a filmmaking course at the Yekaterinburg Theater Institute and has been, since 2016, a permanent jury member of the International Contemporary Drama Festival “Kolyada-Plays”.

HELMUT DOSANTOS, producer, cinematographer, director, photographer (Mexico).

Helmut made his documentary debut as a producer with Tony Driver (an Ascanio Petrini film co-produced with Dugong Films), which premiered in 2019 at the Venice Film Festival (Film Critics’ Week). He co-produced Tatiana Huezo’s Prayers For The Stolen (Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2021) and was the Executive Producer for Yuri Ancarani’s Atlantide (Orizzonti, Venice 2021). Helmut’s directorial debut Gods of Mexico screened at multiple festivals and has recently won the Best Feature Length Documentary Award from the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences.

EKATERINA GOLOVNYA, screenwriter, cinematographer, director at Central House of Cinematographers.

Ekaterina is a member of the Russian Cinematographers Association, and the Film and Television Guild. She earned her degree in screenwriting in 1995 from the National Institute of Cinematography (class of Prof. I.V. Weisfeld). As a student, Ekaterina served as an assistant director for the film Vsya Vlast’ Lyubvi, learned the skills of a news editor (Contemporary History, NTV Channel), and tried her hand at documentary writing. Her thesis paper (script) “Anatoly Golovnya and His Women” won Professor Weisfeld’s special prize. The project “One Hundred Films About Moscow” used Ekaterina’s scripts for multiple films including Moscow … The Images Of Love and Martovshchina. The latter won the Jury Prize from 1st CIS Countries’ Teleforum “Commonwealth”. Two more films, A Journey to Dudutki and To Strive, To Seek, for which Ekaterina acted as screenwriter and director, form part of the “Heirs of Victory” selection and won top prize from the Family of Russia FF. Ekaterina authors a total of 50+ documentaries. In 2007 she joined Golden Ribbon Studio as Producer and Director General.

ECE SOYDAM, screenwriter, director, producer (Turkey). Ece graduated from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara Ankara in 1992 and started working for the Department of Documentary Programs at the Turkish public television channel TRT. She worked for another two years as a production assistant for the news program CNN World Report. Ece spent two years in Canada (1996-1998), doing her graduate study on Social Cultural Anthropology at the University of Toronto, specializing in Native Americans. Coming back to Turkey, she became permanent at TRT. Ece then went to Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (2002) and completed the “Ethnographic Films and Visual Anthropology” certificate program. Back at TRT, she started directing and producing wildlife films, many of which have won numerous national and international awards. Ece currently continues to work for TRT.

CHAIR

LEONID CHERTOK, editor, screenwriter, founder of RusNord News Agency.

Leonid has 11 years of experience as Mosfilm’s camera assistant and mechanic (Station For Two, Love And Doves, The Battalions Request Fire, etc.). He combined these roles with studying at the National Institute of Cinematography and later joined privately owned film studio Still Frame as its Executive Director. Leonid has been the author, director and operator of multiple TV programs broadcast by major TV channels, as well as commercials and music videos. He is currently the editor-in-chief at RUSNORD News Agency (Arkhangelsk). Member of the Journalists Association.

KLAVDIA KHOROSHAVINA, documentary filmmaker.

Documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Klavdia holds awards from Russian and international festivals. Her 200+ documentaries are dedicated to the Russian North. Klavdia is best known as a director of the series of films dedicated to famous northern writers V. Astafyev, F. Abramov and V. Lichutin – Furious, The Fugitive from Paradise, Pinega: Life-Giving Water, Reflections On The Russian Language. Klavdia’s series about the northern heritage sites earned her the United Nations and UNESCO Order of Winged Lion for outstanding contribution to reviving the domestic heritage.

SVETLANA LOYCHENKO, Pravda Severa editor-in-chief, journalist, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation.

SVETLANA is the editor-in-chief at Arkhangelsk’s newspaper Pravda Severa, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation, holder of journalism awards (National Contest “Journalist of the Decade”, “Best Journalist of Arkhangelsk Region), and twice winner of The Golden Pen of Arkhangelsk.

IRINA SKALINA, journalist, special reporter for TASS News Agency.

Irina has years of experience as TASS’s special reporter for Arkhangelsk Province and worked on the local television, collaborating also with the Russian media outlets. She taught courses to journalism students of PSU and NArFU and holds Best Journalist of Arkhangelsk Region and Golden Pen of Arkhangelsk awards. Between 2013 and 2017, Irina served as Deputy Director for Tourism and Environmental Outreach at the Russian Arctic National Park and as such had joined marine expeditions to Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, and Vaigach Island.