Born and educated in Leningrad [St Petersburg], Viacheslav Telnov worked as a radio engineer, production manager and commercial director before becoming the Director of the St Petersburg Documentary Film Studio in 1999.

Founded in 1918 it is Russia’s oldest state documentary studio producing some 20 films and videos annually. The Studio has an impressive archive – some 1400 hours of footage, amounting to 58 days viewing – among it footage of WW2 when it was the only film studio to operate at the front.

Viacheslav is a guest of the Encounters Festival and will introduce Vacations in November.