ELENA ANOSOVA

Documentary Photographer

Elena Anosova was born in 1983. She is a documentary photographer and since 2013 a student at the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia. In 2015, Elena won the Grand Prix at the First Annual Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest for her project Block portraying women in the Russian prison system. Elena also won Best Young Russian Photographer in 2013 and 2015 and took first place at the Baltic Biennale – Photomania, 2015.

"I believe that acceptance and understanding are always of utmost importance in a society. Art helps cure pettiness in questions of personal choice and self-identification. In the words of Bernardo Bertolucci: “People come to the movies to dream the same dream.”

ALEXEY MEDVEDEV

Festival Programmer | Film Critic

Alexey Medvedev was born in 1969 in Moscow. Between 1989-1994 he studied at the Moscow Film School. He went on to produce and direct programs for various Russian television channels including Channel 1, Kultura and STS. He has written for various journals and newspapers such as Iskusstvo Kino, Vremya Novostey and Moskovskiye Novosti. In 2000 his focus turned to film festival work and through to 2006 he was a member of the selection committee at the Moscow International Film Festival. Alexey was also the Programming Director for the 2morrow Film Festival in Moscow (2007-2009) and Zerkalo (Ivanovo, 2011). From 2010 - 2012, Alexey was the Programming Director the 2 in 1 International Film Festival and in 2012 he started to program the Sakhalin International Festival On the Edge.

"What I would like to most forget about in today’s Russia is all the problems, confine myself to a small universe of people who understand me and share my values; to stop wasting my energy on all the arguments that have begun to seem so futile. It is, however, exactly this, which we must not do. All different kinds of minority people should be visible. No matter on what basis we are different – be it political, in opinion, skin color, sexual orientation, a unique sense of style or weird haircuts. This is the only way to remind society that diversity is life and through this is the possibility of understanding and development. Side by Side Film Festival constantly reminds us of this and it is our obligation to make sure that as many people see the films as possible."

ANA LOK

Festival Programmer | LGBT Activist

Ana Lok is an activist, a curator of social projects and one of the organizers of the queer film festival, DOTYK, in Minsk, Belarus.

"In February 2015, my colleagues and I organized the first Belarusian queer film festival DOTYK. In Belarusian DOTYK means touch. The goal of the was festival was that visitors and volunteers are “touch” and get to know different aspects of queer identity and culture. We discussed sexuality, normativity, the different types of communities and human rights. The creation of safe spaces where people can access information on various queer topics is a very important task.

Our first festival was a success and we have decided to make it an annual event, holding it also in different cities across Belarus. Side by Side Film Festival was in some ways a pioneer and an inspiration for our own work. The organizers of Side by Side are doing a great job by not letting queer issues be forced underground.

It is a great honor and responsibility for me to be on the jury of Side by Side.

I can’t wait! See you soon!" 

ALEXEY ARTAMONOV

Film Programmer | Film Critic

Alexey Artamonov, a film curator and critic, was born in Moscow. Alexey has written articles on music and film for a range of journals, magazine and websites including Séance, Iskusstvo Kino, Afisha, ARTINFO Russia, Interview Russia, Look at Me, Colta.ru and Kinote. Alexey is former editor of Theory and Practices’s cinema column. As well as having programmed films for both Media Forum and the Moscow International Film Festival he has led master classes for the Saint Petersburg student film festival The Beginning and has worked at the National Central Film Museum and as a PR person for the Message to Man Film Festival.

"The majority of our citizens are socially, economically and culturally oppressed. The LGBT community is subject to even further repression. Paradoxically, many from the community contribute to the oppressive politics of those in power by accepting it as a natural social reality, the norm or inevitability. Norms do not exist but are forced social constructs through which we can see the traces of historical development.

I support the Side by Side Film Festival, even though I am against the creation of any kind of ghetto based around any particular characteristic, and I believe that it is only through solidarity and through the realization of our broad commonality that discriminated social groups can express their will and influence change. The festival is a stronghold under siege, one of the last places where members of the LGBT community can experience their collective identity, where they can feel unity rather than separateness. This collective unity and feeling of love serves as pathway to connecting each and every one of us. Film is a medium that speaks the language of love and not the language of subjugation and economic efficiency."

SALLY GOLDNER

Director of Transgender Victoria

Sally Goldner has been active in Melbourne’s queer community for seventeen years. Projects include Transgender Victoria (now Executive Director), 3CR community radio presenter 3 of the program Out of the Pan and Treasurer of Bisexual Alliance Victoria.

She was noted in as one of the top 100 most creative and influential people by Melbourne newspaper The Ages in 2011 and was awarded Activist of the Year at the 2010 Also Foundation Awards.

She is the focus of an autobiographical documentary Sally’s Story, a life member of the Seahorse Club of Victoria, Zoe Belle Gender Collective, Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby and Polyvic.

"I am extremely honoured to be invited all the way from St Petersburg’s sister city of Melbourne, Australia to be a juror at the Side by Side Festival. As someone involved in Melbourne’s LGBTI community for just over 20 years, I am always keen to meet and share ideas & experiences with LGBTI family from around the world.

15 years ago I helped curate one of the first sessions of transgender films at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival and realised that there are many equally vital ways to communicate our stories and understand our experiences. The creativity of LGBTI people has been demonstrated across many fields and I look forward to the enjoyment of viewing that creativity and uniqueness as part of the 2015 Side by Side LGBT film festival."