THE THEATRE JURY
- ALYONA BABENKOCHAIR OF THE THEATRE COMPETITION JURYRussian theatre, film and television actress, TV presenter and film producer. Honored Artist of the Russian Federation
- In 2000, she graduated from VGIK (workshop of Anatoly Romashin).
- Since 2008, Alyona Babenko has been an actress at the Sovremennik Theatre
- Her theatre credits include roles in the productions “Three Sisters”, “The God of Slaughter”, “Pygmalion”, “Time of Women” and “Autumn Sonata”.
- 2005 — Golden Eagle Award for Best Actress for the film “Driver for Vera”.
- 2005 — Nika Award in the “Discovery of the Year” category for the same role.
- 2007 — Sozvezdie Award for Best Actress for the film “Devil’s Wheel”.
- 2008 — MTV Russia Award for Best Actress for the film “Indi”.
- 2014 — Award for Best Supporting Actress at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia for the film “The Photographer”.
- In 2026, she was nominated for the St. Petersburg Higher Theatre Award “Golden Sofit” for Best Actress for her performance in “A Streetcar Named Desire” at the Theatre on Sadovaya.
- WANG SHENChinaChinese and Russian theatre and film actor and director
- “Gogol. Notes of a Madman” (2018). For this production, Wang Shen received the “Best Young Director of the Year” award at the Shanghai Jing’an International Theatre Festival in 2019.
- “How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” (based on the story by N. V. Gogol). The premiere took place in April 2025 at the Masterovye Russian Drama Theatre in Naberezhnye Chelny. It marked Wang Shen’s directorial debut on a major professional stage. In working on the production, he sought a new artistic language to convey Gogol’s mystical world. The classic text was supplemented with quotations from astrophysicist Carl Sagan and reflections by the actors. The production received the Grand Prize at the Festival of Theatres of Small Cities.
- “Neumoyka” at the Krasnoyarsk Youth Theatre. Wang Shen worked on the production not only as a director, but also as a playwright, set designer and sound designer.
- Wang Shen also took part in the directing laboratory “Butusovtsy. Russian Short Story of the 20th Century” on the Small Stage of the Mayakovsky Theatre, where sketches based on prose by Gazdanov, Platonov, Nabokov and other authors were presented.
- In addition to directing, Wang Shen continues to perform as an actor. His stage credits include roles in “When We Were 20”, “Mandrake”, “Don Quixote”, “The Woman from Alfa Romeo” and others. His film credits include “Contribution” and “Anna’s Feelings”, and in November 2025 the series “The Naked Man”, in which he played one of the leading roles, premiered on Wink. Thus, Wang Shen combines the experience of Eastern theatrical tradition with contemporary Russian directing practices, making him one of the notable representatives of a new generation of theatre artists.
- MARINA KOROSTYLYOVARussiaTheatre Studies Scholar
- Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation, member of the Union of Theatre Workers of the Russian Federation, Associate Professor at the Department of Acting at VGIK.
- Head of Information Projects at the Kultura TV Channel, Chief Editor of the programs “The Main Role” and “News. In Detail. Theatre”.
- DING YITENGChinaTheatre director, playwright, and actor
- 2021 — Regular participant in the TV project “New Theatre Life”. Enrolled in a postdoctoral program at Peking University. Conducts masterclasses on the “New Form” system around the world.
- 2022 — Staged the productions “I Am Not Pan Jinlian” and “Contemplation”. Appeared as a guest on the program “Wishing You a Good Life”. Published the article “Formulation and Practice of the Creative Method ‘New Form’”.
- 2023 — Officially joined the National Theatre of China, where he staged “Cyrano de Bergerac”.
- 2024 — Author and director of the production “One Day, Three Autumns”. Served as a jury member for the young artists’ competition at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival. Launched a joint international project to create Russian-language theatre versions.
- 2024–2026 (key international projects) — Collaborates with several Russian theatres, creating Russian-language versions of “I Am Not Pan Jinlian”, “One Day, Three Autumns” and the trilogy “The Fatigue of Life”. The Russian-language production of “I Am Not Pan Jinlian” received Russia’s highest theatre award, the Golden Mask, in the Best Small-Scale Theatre Production category — the first time this award was presented to a Chinese author.
- Author of the original theatre system “New Form”.
- The first Chinese guest actor at the Odin Theatre in Denmark since the troupe’s founding.
- In his early years, he joined Meng Jinhui’s theatre studio and performed in the productions “To Live”, “I Love XXX” and “The Opinions of Two Dogs”.
- From 2016 to 2020, he worked on the trilogy “The Tragedy of the Foolish Boy”, which included the productions “Before E”, “The Drunken Dream of the Immortal Poet” and “The Wound Disappears into the Boundless Darkness”.
- Since 2021, he has been a regular participant in the TV project “New Theatre Life”. In 2022, he staged the productions “I Am Not Pan Jinlian” and “Contemplation”. That same year, he published the article “Formulation and Practice of the Creative Method ‘New Form’”.
- In 2023, he officially joined the National Theatre of China, where he staged “Cyrano de Bergerac”.
- Since 2024, he has collaborated with several Russian theatres, creating Russian-language versions of “I Am Not Pan Jinlian”, “One Day, Three Autumns” and the trilogy “The Fatigue of Life”. He continues to develop his “New Form” system and conducts masterclasses around the world.
- Main productions as a director: “Embraces of Macbeth”, “Before E”, “The Drunken Dream of the Immortal Poet”, “The Wound Disappears into the Boundless Darkness”, “New Western Room”, “I Am the Moon”, “I Am Not Pan Jinlian”, “Contemplation”, “One Day, Three Autumns”, “Cyrano de Bergerac”, as well as the Russian-language versions of “I Am Not Pan Jinlian”, “One Day, Three Autumns” and “The Fatigue of Life”.
- ĐORĐE MARKOVIĆSerbiaSerbian theatre, film and television actor, voice actor and specialist in stage speech
- Graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade (class of Professor Vladimir Jevtović).
- Film and television credits include “Balkan Frontier”, “The Clan”, “12 Words”, “Heroes of Haliard”, “The Russian Consul”, “The Defender”, “V-Effect”, and “37”.
- Actively involved in productions at leading theatres in Serbia, including the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade.
- Known to a wide audience for his roles in popular Balkan television series, including “Military Academy”, as well as in Serbian national cinema.
VGIK International Student Festival 2026