Gareth Jones
UK
Director, writer, producer
Was born in London in February 1951, son of BBC Foreign Correspondent Ivor Jones and Jane Ann Sterndale Bennett. He was educated at Westminster School and St. John's College, Cambridge where he read Modern Languages. After graduation in 1973, he trained for a year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before joining Prospect Theatre Company, where he directed Shakespeare, Brecht, Strindberg and Chekhov.
He was Director of Productions at bilingual Welsh/English touring company Theatr yr Ymylon, and between 1977 and 1980 worked as a freelance theatre director for the Royal Court Theatre and Theatr Clwyd where he directed his own plays «My People» (based on the short stories of Caradoc Evans) and «Solidarity». During the 1980s he published two novels «Lord of Misrule and Noble Savage».
After training as a television director at HTV Wales, he joined Granada Television for whom he directed «Coronation Street» and comedy drama series «Brass». From 1984-87 he worked as a freelance writer/director for BBC television drama, writing drama series.
His television directing credits also include «The Trial of Klaus Barbie» (1987) which was based on court transcripts and screened shortly after the verdict, «Watch with Mother» and «Seeing in the Dark», «Seduction – Tell Me More».
Most recently, Jones has written and directed a trilogy of feature films known collectively as the D-Trilogy - «Desire» (2009), «Delight» (2013) and «Delirium» (2016).
Since 2007 he has run feature film development initiative Babylon, aimed at promoting cultural diversity within the independent film sector in Europe, and to provide an international platform for emerging filmmakers. In 2011 Gareth Jones was awarded his PhD from Cambridge University for his thesis «Rites of Recuperation: Film and the Holocaust in Germany and the Balkans».
Vladimir Yastreba
Russia / Bulgaria
Curator if international cultural projects of Russia with the Balkan countries.
Graduated from the Leningrad State Institute of Culture. Since 1983 has been living in Bulgaria. In the early 1990s worked as a dubbing director of the highly popular Latin American series on Russian TV. Since 1995 has been active in promoting Russian cinema in Bulgaria and the Balkan countries, in June 2003 became an employee of the Russian Cultural and Information Center in Sofia. Vladimir Yastreba is a member of the Eurasian Academy of TV and Radio and the foreign relations advisor of the 33rd Moscow International Film Festival, winner of many awards, including the medal for the contribution to the restoration of historical memory, merits and valor of General M.D.Skobelev, the Honorary Diploma of the 30th Moscow International Film Festival for promoting Russian cinema abroad, the Prize of the “Golden Muse” Foundation for spreading Russian culture in Bulgaria, medals for “Strengthening Friendship among Peoples” ect.
Olesia Sudzilovskaya
Russia
Actress
Born in Zelenograd. Since childhood practiced gymnastics and calisthenics. At 14 was invited to take part in the audition for the movie “Intermediary”, where she later played the lead. At 16 already a Candidate Master of Sports, she finished the sports school and joined the Ilya Reznik Theatre. After three years she transferred to the first year of the MKhAT School Studio (class of Avangard Leontiev). In 1997 she became an actress at the Mayakovsky Theatre, started to appear in movies and on TV. Her most notable screen works include “Silvery Lily-of-the Valley” (2000), “Garbage Man” (2001), “Give Me Moonlight as a Present” (2001), “Criminal Petersburg” (2003), “2-Assa-2” (2008), “Stone” (2011), “Intimate Places” (2013), “Orlova and Alexandrov” (2014).