Main competition Jury members of the VIII ZMKF are announced

VIII Transbaikal International Film Festival announces names of judges of the main competition, who will watch and assess the movies in the nominations "The Best Movie", "The Best Actor", "The Best Actress", "The Best Direction", "The Best Scenario".

DMITRY ASTRAKHAN
Director, producer
Russia
President of the Jury (Chairman)

Born in 1957 in Leningrad, USSR. In 1982 he graduated from Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema (class of A.Muzil). In 1981–1987 – stage director of the Sverdlovsk Youth Theatre, in 1990–1995 – artistic director of the M.Akimov St. Petersburg Theatre of Comedy. He staged more than 40 performances in various theatres. Since 1990 he has been working in cinema. His directorial debut “Get Thee Out” (1991) won the Grand Prix of the Russian film festival Kinotavr, awards in Moscow and Tokyo international film festivals, and represented the USSR at the Oscar award. Director and producer of many famous Russian films and TV series, played more than 30 roles on screen and on TV. Prize-winner of national and international film festivals, winner of Nika and Golden Eagle awards. Honored Art Worker of Russia. Among his directorial works are “You Are My Only Love” (1993), “Everything Will Be All Right”, “The Fourth Planet” (1995), “From Hell to Hell” (1996), “Waiting Room” (1997, TV series), “Crossroads”, “Contract with Death” (1998), “Give Me the Moonlight” (2000), “Yellow Dwarf”, “Alchemists” (2001), “Lady for a Day” (2002, TV), “Tartarin of Tarascon” (2003, TV), “Rebecca”, “The Dark Night” (2003), “Dream Factory” (2004, TV series), “All is Fair” (2007), “Good and Kind People Live in the World” (2008), “The Golden Country” (2009), “Night Tavern of Light” (2010), “On Your Own Circles” (2010, TV series), “Kids” (2012), “Love Without Rules” (2016), “The Game”, “Life After Life” (2018), etc.

LAURENT DANIELOU
Producer, distributor
France

Born in 1966, Laurent Danielou started as a Cultural Attache to the French Embassy first in Moscow (1988–1993) then in Los Angeles (1993–1998), where he founded the French Hollywood Circle in Los Angeles, chaired by Jean-Jacques Annaud. He also collaborated as a writer with newspapers such as Le Monde and Les Cahiers du Cinema. He co-founded two successful magazines in Paris, Synopsis and Zurban (100.000 copies per week). From 2003 till 2014 he was the Managing Director of world sales company Rezo Films International. Filmography includes Courtney Hunt’s “Frozen River”, Julie Delpy’s “2 Days in Paris” and “2 Days in New York”, Stephane Brize’s “Mademoiselle Chambon”, Xavier Dolan’s “I Killed My Mother”, Pavel Lungin’s “The Island” and “Tsar”, Catherine Breillat's “Abuse of Weakness”. He also produced or co-produced Eric Rohmer’s “Triple Agent”, Philippe Leclerc’s “Princess of the Sun” and Alexander Sokurov’s “Alexandra”. From 2011 to 2016, Laurent Danielou was the Chairman of A.D.E.F., the French Film Export Association which represents all the French sales companies. In 2015, he created Loco Films, production and world sales company, based in Paris. First films include “La Casa” by Diego Lerman, “Battle for Sevastopol” by Sergey Mokritskiy, “Don’t Call Me Son” by Anna Muylaert, “Eva Nova” by Marko Skop, “Leaving Afghanistan” by Pavel Lungin.

VIVIENNE ZHENG
Producer, organizer of film production
China

Had her first professional encounter with film festivals in 2009 when she and her colleagues organized the China Classic Film Festival, which screened 12 Chinese films in various venues across Wales as well a hosting a filmmaking master class with director Lu Chuan (“City of Life and Death”) at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. After returning to Beijing in 2011, she teamed up with Neil McFarlane to offer high-quality film subtitle translation services to Chinese filmmakers, and together they have translated more than 75 films and screenplays, many of which have won awards in top-tier film festivals. At the end of 2015, she started a WeChat blog introducing international film festivals to Chinese filmmakers. The blog's readership has steadily grown and it currently has over 5,500 subscribers. Her company London House Media and Culture Co., Ltd also helps submit Chinese films to various international festivals for competition and exhibition, and has recently started to explore the international distribution of Chinese cinema by setting up CMIDB.com, a database of the latest Chinese films available for international distribution. Her company and Sayinayi Co., Ltd co-hosted the promotion conference for the Chinese documentary “Common Destiny” in Venice Film Festival in 2018. She has been invited to the 37^th Fajr International Film Festival in Iran (2019) and 17^th Dhaka International Film Festival to promote Chinese films and at the same time seek good international films for the Chinese market.

ELENA KSENOFONTOVA
Actress
Russia

Born in Khromtau, Kazakhstan. In 1998 she graduated VGIK (course by M. Khucyev, group by I. Raikhelgauz). Awarded prize by T. Makarova “For working in theatre and film industry and for time by teaching in Institute”. From 1995 till 2003 - was actress in “Modern Plays School” under the leadership by I. Raikhelgauz. From 1999 till 2013 - was actress of Moscow Drama Theatre under the leadership by A. Jigarkhanyan. Since 2013 - actress of “Another Theatre”, since 2015 - actress of “Active Theatre”, since 2016 - actress of  “Quartet I” Theatre. Honoured Actress of Russia. Roles in serials “Good Hands”, “The Year of Goldfish”, “Kitchen”, “Hotel “Eleon”” brings her a big popularity.