Yakov Sivchenko is a bright representative of modern Russian cinema. His career is an example of a thoughtful and diverse path in the profession. He is a graduate of the screenwriting workshop of Yuri Arabov (the first Russian to win a Cannes Palme d'Or for Best Screenplay) at VGIK. From the very start, he was shaped by a high standard of education-one that trains not just technicians, but artists and thinkers. His honors diploma was just the first sign of his serious ambitions, which were soon confirmed by his win at the international "OOK" script competition.
But Yakov doesn't limit himself to just literature and drama. His desire for full control over his artistic vision brought him to directing. He gained priceless experience through an internship with theatre master Kama Ginkas at the Moscow Theatre of the Young Spectator (TYuZ), where he learned not just how to stage scenes, but how to work with live action drama.
His films are a story of balance between arthouse films and genre projects.
On one hand, he collaborated with the classic director Alexander Sokurov on the script for "Brothers" and worked as a script doctor on Lenfilm's "The Russian Boy," which was selected for the Berlin Film Festival.
On the other hand, he has successful commercial projects: he wrote the comedy "LOVE" starring Sergey Svetlakov and Yuri Stoyanov, and the series "Passengers" for the START platform.
However, his real creative lab is his own narrative films. His short film "Night talk with a hangman" (2018) is a real standout, winning awards and being shown at dozens of international festivals from Portugal to South Africa, from Finland to Kyrgyzstan. It proved his skill at creating universal stories that connect with different cultures and won him awards for Best Direction, Best Screenplay, and Best Russian Short Film.
Yakov's experimental side also showed in the project "Attraction," a non-fiction film shot on a mobile phone, which also won over international festivals, proving that the idea and vision matter more than the budget.
In 2025, his feature-length directorial debut "Maria," a winner of the Moscow International Film Festival's debut pitch, will be released, and it's eagerly awaited by both audience and critics.
Yakov Sivchenko is a modern filmmaker who creates both intimate philosophical stories and large-scale entertainment projects with equal skill, always staying true to his own artistic sense and the classical education he received from his great teachers.
