Armenian Panorama

Born in 1947.Worked as a film reporter for Jugantar daily (1966 – 1983), film critic-journalist for Bartaman weekly (1984-1993), film-critic for Sangbad Pratidin (1993-2009), edited Cinema Ebong weekly (2009-2010). At present he is attached with Sangbad Pratidin, as a film-critic. Extensively writes on cinema in different weekly/monthly/fortnightly film magazines. He was the secretary of the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association (1986 - 2007). Since 1994 he has been visiting almost all the A - grade film festivals. He is the author of a few books on Indian/ Bengali cinema. He also translated a number of foreign scripts (Kurosawa, Thomas Gutierrez Alea, Stanely Kubrick and others). Served on the FIPRESCI Jury of Pusan IFF, International Jury of the Orenburg FF, the Indian National Film Awards Jury.

Born in Yerevan in 1952. Studied at Yerevan State University, Chemistry department (1969-1974) and Moscow All-Soviet Institute of Cinema (VGIK), Film direction department (1978-1984). During 1974-1978 worked at the Armenian Agricultural Institute, Yerevan, as a laboratory chemist. Since 1984 has been working for Hayfilm Studio as a director, making films, all of them based on the screenplays by him. His latest work is "The Silhouette" (1995-2001, 6 parts). Since 2001 he has been the head of Directors’ Studio in Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinema.

He joined the British Council in 2006 as a Programmes Manager, overseeing projects in Education, Governance, Arts and Society. He holds PhD in Arts History. As a Guest Lecturer of Cultural Policy and Arts Administration he cooperated with Cincinnati University (Ohio, USA), Conservatory of Music Carl Maria von Weber (Dresden, Germany), Caucasus Institute, Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinema, Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, and Russian-Armenian State University (Yerevan). He has more than 100 articles and publications in periodicals and magazines. He is a member of Eastern European Music Association, Society for Music Theory, European Society of Ethnomusicology, Culturelink Network, Union of Composers and Musicologists of Armenia, Union of Journalists of Armenia.

Elena Stishova, film critic, film historian, Honored Artist of Russia, Academician of the "Nica" Russian Film Academy, FIPRESCI Member. One of the most inspired, rigorous and thoughtful Russian critics. Elena Stishova’s professional experience includes her work as a Cultural Affairs’ correspondent for the ITAR-TASS Telegraph Agency, columnist of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, teaching experience: for a few years she conducted a master class at the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). For thirty-six years she is the longtime editor of the Kinoiskusstvo magazine, as the head of the Russian cinema department. For eight years, Stishova used to edit (with K. Scherbakov) the Kinoforum magazine - a unique edition about the CIS and Baltic countries’ cinema, suspended because of the financial crisis. She dedicated several years to gender agenda studies in the format of the national cinema. She participated in the creation of the first electronic encyclopedia on the history of Russian feminism. The organizer and editor of the Gender Montage documentary film project by the Open Society Institute. She is th author of hundreds of articles and several books on contemporary Russian cinema.

Born in Artvin, Turkey, in 1975. He studied Physics (1992-1996) and History of Science (1996-2003) at Istanbul University. He participated in cinema workshops in Mesopotamia Culture Center (1996-1999) and Nazım Culture House (1999-2001). Autumn, the first feature by the director was screened at more than 60 festivals in Turkey and around the world and got 33 awards. It was seen by 150.000 people in Turkey and was nominated for the European Film Academy European Discovery Award. Among other films by him are Momi (2001), Voyage in the Time with a scientist (2004), Rhapsody and Melancholy in Tokai City (2005) and The Future (2011). Alper is the Artistic Director of Caucasus Film Days in Artvin. Besides, he writes for the cinema magazine Yeni Film.

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1938. In 1948 she moved to Armenia with her family. In 1961 graduated from Yerevan State University, Russian Philology department: In 1971, graduating from Moscow All-Soviet Institute of Cinematography (by correspondence), she received Film Critic and Editor Diploma. For seven years (1965-1972) she worked for Yerevan TV Studio as an editor. From 1972 to 1974 she was in stationary postgraduate studies at the TV Chair of the same institute. Since 1976 she has been working at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Arts Institute, Armenian Diaspora Art department. She is a Senior staff scientist, member, The Cinematographers’ Union of Armeina (1976) and FIPRESCI. In 1970-s and 80-s she used to lecture on art of cinema in different cities of Russia, Baltics, Central Asia and Ukraine. In 2008 she was awarded the Diploma “For the Remarkable Services in Armenian Arts” by the Ministry of Culture. She is the author of many articles on cinema and television, being published since 1964. Her articles was published in Poland and Germany as well. The co-author of Armenian Cinema (1924-1999) complete catalogue (Feature Films). She completed her monographic research on Rouben Mamoulian.