Russia

Born in 1995, in Moscow, Julia Sergina graduated from the Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK), and the non-fiction film workshop of Sergei Miroshnichenko. Her film, Therapy, won the Laurel Branch award for best debut documentary. She is the Co-founder of the STAYA.DOC documentary film studio.

Yulia Vishnevets is a Moscow based filmmaker and journalist, with a passion for exploring society through documentary storytelling. She is a staff film director of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty in Moscow. Her interests ranges from social exclusion to identities, conflicts and how people are affected by their surrounding environment. Her first full-length documentary film, A House on the Edge (2016), depicting both sides of the conflict in Ukraine, had a number of screenings in Russia, Germany and USA, including prominent Artdocfest festival in Moscow and was recently purchased for Currenttime.tv channel.

Yulia Vishnevets is a Moscow based filmmaker and journalist, with a passion for exploring society through documentary storytelling. She is a staff film director of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty in Moscow. Her interests ranges from social exclusion to identities, conflicts and how people are affected by their surrounding environment. Her first full-length documentary film, A House on the Edge (2016), depicting both sides of the conflict in Ukraine, had a number of screenings in Russia, Germany and USA, including prominent Artdocfest festival in Moscow and was recently purchased for Currenttime.tv channel.

Maria Pronina was born in 1994, in Moscow. She first trained as a ballet dancer. Later, she graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University and studied directing at the Moscow Film School. She works in the field of video production as a director, producer and ghostwriter. In 2020, she made her debut with a short fiction film, Rain or Wind, which has been selected for national and international film festivals.

Anna Artemyeva was born in Moscow. She graduated as a cinematographer and director of animation at VGIK (Russia). Anna started her Masters at the DocNomads documentary directing program in 2019. Her diploma film Once Upon a Time there Lived a Mother was selected by more than 50 festivals around the world, and was awarded several times. She frequently collaborates with Russian director Elena Laskaki.

Vitaly Akimov was born in 1996, in the provincial town of Arseniev, in the Russian Far East. He is now based in Moscow. He believes that documentary cinema has the power through which we can observe the world.

István Gábor Takács studied to be a psychologist and has worked as a human rights activist, video filmmaker, trainer and contributor at the Law Reporter Foundation. He led the video program of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union between 2007 and 2015, and worked for five years in the needle exchange program of the Drug Prevention Foundation. He is the author of several articles on harm reduction, and the cinematographer, film editor and co-director of over 700 online videos.

Yuriy Pivovarov was born in Moscow in 1990. He majored in philosophy at the Russian State University. He has worked as a first camera assistant in movie productions since 2013, and has attended the Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov School of Documentary Film and Theater since 2018.

István Gábor Takács studied to be a psychologist and has worked as a human rights activist, video filmmaker, trainer and contributor at the Law Reporter Foundation. He led the video program of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union between 2007 and 2015, and worked for five years in the needle exchange program of the Drug Prevention Foundation. He is the author of several articles on harm reduction, and the cinematographer, film editor and co-director of over 700 online videos.

Born in Uzbekistan, Askold Kurov has lived in Russia since 1991. He earned a degree in documentary filmmaking at Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov’s School of Documentary Film and Theater in Moscow. His films Winter, Go Away!, Leninland and Children 404 won critical acclaim and were screened at numerous festivals. His work focuses on human rights and social conflict in contemporary Russia.