Advisory board

The Advisory Board of the Northern Lights Film Festival is an international consultative committee aimed at exchanging ideas.

Together with the members of the Board, we will look for new opportunities and establish strategies for the development of the Northern Lights, its concept, and its infrastructure, including for the benefit of the Belarusian film industry as a whole.

¹
The Board consists of international and Belarusian experts in the fields of cinema, production, art management, and more. The number of Board members can change and increase.

²
The Board meets in support of the existing executive team and director of the film festival, Volia Chajkouskaya, several times a year, both online and offline, for closed strategic meetings.

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The Advisory Board will be instrumental where there is a requirement for external expertise, such as how to grow the festival, tackle funding challenges, support a key (technical) transition within the organization, form partnerships with other international film festivals, ensure sustainability, grow the audience, and manage safety matters and crises with regard to the team's general safety, both inside and outside Belarus.

Advisory board

The Advisory Board of the Northern Lights Film Festival is an international consultative committee aimed at exchanging ideas.

Together with the members of the Board, we will look for new opportunities and establish strategies for the development of the Northern Lights, its concept, and its infrastructure, including for the benefit of the Belarusian film industry as a whole.

¹
The Board consists of international and Belarusian experts in the fields of cinema, production, art management, and more. The number of Board members can change and increase.

²
The Board meets in support of the existing executive team and director of the film festival, Volia Chajkouskaya, several times a year, both online and offline, for closed strategic meetings.

³
The Advisory Board will be instrumental where there is a requirement for external expertise, such as how to grow the festival, tackle funding challenges, support a key (technical) transition within the organization, form partnerships with other international film festivals, ensure sustainability, grow the audience, and manage safety matters and crises with regard to the team's general safety, both inside and outside Belarus.

Sten-Kristian Saluveer is a Europe- and Japan-based film and technology visionary, genre film producer, innovation strategist, and entrepreneur.After graduating from Concordia University in Estonia as a film producer, he went on to study classical Japanese philosophy and literature at Tallinn University while curating the Asian and genre cinema section of the A-class Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn. Sten's groundbreaking success was a co-production of Laos' first Oscar entry, the ghost drama Dearest Sister (Mattie Do), in 2016. He also directed the first genre film festival, HOFF (Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy FF). Sten mentors professionals at the Baltic Film and Media School at Tallinn University, the Taipei Film Academy, and the Danish National Film School, among others. Saluveer is a regular contributor to policies regarding digital media and culture for the Estonian Ministry of Culture and the European Commission. Now, Sten is the Strategic Advisor and head of the innovation track - NEXT - at the premier venue for the global film industry, the Marché du Film of the Festival de Cannes.

Members

Nadia Zeliankova specializes in digital promotion strategies and creative campaigns. As a partner in the creative Red Graphic Digital Agency, she works with top global brands and startups in Europe and America. Nadia studied journalism and worked for television and in the press. She was a partner and development director at the Gallery of Modern Art Ў in Minsk. She resided in Minsk before moving to Tallinn in 2020, where she became the speaker of the Belarusian diaspora in Estonia.

NADIA ZELIANKOVA

Artistic director, Marketing expert

Estonia / Belarus

The Belarus-born director Darya Zhuk started her career at HBO as a business analyst before obtaining her MFA with honors from Columbia University with a specialty in directing. Her debut feature film, "Crystal Swan," was Belarus' first entry into the Academy Award's Best Foreign Language category in 22 years. "Crystal Swan" opened the prestigious Karlovy Vary "East of the West" competition and won many prizes, such as the Grand Prix at the Odessa Film Festival, the Grand Prix at the Tbilisi International Film Festival, and the Youth Jury Award at the Cork Film Festival, among others, before premiering in North America at Slamdance FF in 2019. Short films Darya wrote and directed have been selected for SXSW, Tarkovsky, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Oaxaca, and Santa Fe independent film festivals, to name just a few. She received the Nick Louvel Breakthrough Filmmaker Award and the Best Female Writer-Director Award from New York Women in Film and Television in 2015.

DARYA ZHUK

Director, Writer, Producer

USA / Belarus

STEN-KRISTIAN SALUVEER

Producer, Strategist, Entrepreneur

Iceland

Sten-Kristian Saluveer is a Europe- and Japan-based film and technology visionary, genre film producer, innovation strategist, and entrepreneur.After graduating from Concordia University in Estonia as a film producer, he went on to study classical Japanese philosophy and literature at Tallinn University while curating the Asian and genre cinema section of the A-class Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn. Sten's groundbreaking success was a co-production of Laos' first Oscar entry, the ghost drama Dearest Sister (Mattie Do), in 2016. He also directed the first genre film festival, HOFF (Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy FF). Sten mentors professionals at the Baltic Film and Media School at Tallinn University, the Taipei Film Academy, and the Danish National Film School, among others. Saluveer is a regular contributor to policies regarding digital media and culture for the Estonian Ministry of Culture and the European Commission. Now, Sten is the Strategic Advisor and head of the innovation track - NEXT - at the premier venue for the global film industry, the Marché du Film of the Festival de Cannes.

Members

Nadia Zeliankova specializes in digital promotion strategies and creative campaigns. As a partner in the creative Red Graphic Digital Agency, she works with top global brands and startups in Europe and America. Nadia studied journalism and worked for television and in the press. She was a partner and development director at the Gallery of Modern Art Ў in Minsk. She resided in Minsk before moving to Tallinn in 2020, where she became the speaker of the Belarusian diaspora in Estonia.

NADIA ZELIANKOVA

Artistic director, Marketing expert

Estonia / Belarus

The Belarus-born director Darya Zhuk started her career at HBO as a business analyst before obtaining her MFA with honors from Columbia University with a specialty in directing. Her debut feature film, "Crystal Swan," was Belarus' first entry into the Academy Award's Best Foreign Language category in 22 years. "Crystal Swan" opened the prestigious Karlovy Vary "East of the West" competition and won many prizes, such as the Grand Prix at the Odessa Film Festival, the Grand Prix at the Tbilisi International Film Festival, and the Youth Jury Award at the Cork Film Festival, among others, before premiering in North America at Slamdance FF in 2019. Short films Darya wrote and directed have been selected for SXSW, Tarkovsky, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Oaxaca, and Santa Fe independent film festivals, to name just a few. She received the Nick Louvel Breakthrough Filmmaker Award and the Best Female Writer-Director Award from New York Women in Film and Television in 2015.

DARYA ZHUK

Director, Writer, Producer

USA / Belarus

STEN-KRISTIAN SALUVEER

Producer, Strategist, Entrepreneur

Iceland