Sitora Alieva
Sitora Shokhinovna Alieva () – film expert, director of the IFF “Faces of love” and the IIF Sochi, artistic director of the largest Russian national film festival “Kinotavr”, lecturer at film schools and universities, juror at numerous film festivals, including Berlinale, Venice Film Festival, etc. Member of European Film Academy. Biography. Sitora Alieva was born in 1963 in Dushanbe, Tajik SSR. She made her film debut as an actress at the age of 7. In the following 9 years she had played about ten roles in different art and television films. In 1987 Alieva graduated from the scriptwriting and film  history department ( class) of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. Then she worked for Tajikfilm in Dushanbe and in 1991 promoted Tajik films at different venues around the world including Moscow International Film Festival. In 1991 she moved to Moscow and then began to work as , "Iskusstvo Kino" editor-in-chief, referent (1993-1996). In 1993 she began to work at “Kinotavr” conglomerate ran by , and in 1999 became the director of its festival branches: IFF Sochi, IFF “Faces of Love” and the International Children's Arts Festival “” (1999-2005). In 2005, after the “Kinotavr” brand was bought  by Alexander Rodnyansky, only Russian part of the festival was left, IIF Sochi and IFF “Faces of Love” were stopped. Alieva has become the permanent artistic director of the Open Russian Film Festival “Kinotavr” – the largest national film festival of the country for now. Also, as a film expert and a festival professional, she lectures in Russia and abroad. Since 90-s Alieva has been taking part in juries of numerous international, national, the CIS and the Baltics, student and short film festivals, including: In 2007-2010 Sitora Alieva had been Russia's official delegate at the Rome International Film  Festival. Having such an active international festival life, being part of an extensive international festival network and the main national film festival selector at the same time make Sitora one of the key figures in promoting new Russian cinema at the international film festival scene.