Gonchukov Arseniy Mikhailovich film director, producer, screenwriter, and writer. Member of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation and the Guild of Film Directors of the Russian Federation.

He graduated from Nizhny Novgorod Lobachevsky State University with a degree in Philology, the Film School at the Higher School of Economics (Anna Fenchenko Feature Film Workshop) and the Moscow School of New Cinema (MSHNK) (Dmitry Mamulia).

The portfolio includes six full-length feature films, three TV series, dozens of documentaries and short films. Two full-length films are in production and will be released in 2026.

The world premiere of the children’s fantasy adventure film «The Devil’s Stone» took place at the 46th MIFF Film Festival. The film was longlisted for the national Nika Award and was released on the IVI online platform.

He is the author of three books. Translated into Chinese and Arabic. The novel «Proof of Man» was published by Elena Shubina (AST).

 

Winner of more than twenty international awards: Grand Prix of the «Window to Europe» International Film Festival, winner of the national award «Country» for the Best feature Film, winner of the «Kinoshok» and «Kinoprizyv» film awards. Winner of the special prize of the first web-series festival in Russia – «For contribution to the development of web series».

Participant of the short film market in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Participant of the 77th Montreal Film Festival in the «Focus on World Cinema» program.

Winner of prizes for Best Film and Best Director at international film festivals in Baghdad and Delhi. As well as three prizes for the best acting work.

Member and chairman of the jury of international film festivals.

He worked as a reporter, author, and editor-in-chief of television programs. Director of the television news department (Volga TV Channel, «Rus» Television and Radio Broadcasting Company); the second director of the multi-part feature film «Dragon Syndrome» (Channel One, directed by N. Khomeriki). He organized the largest literary festival in the history of Nizhny Novgorod, «Literaterra».

 

FILMOGRAPHY. FILMS:

«Final stop», 15 min. (2011)

«1210», 70 min. (2012)

«The Child», short film, 13 min. (2012)

«Flight. Three days after the disaster», 70 min. (2013)

«Son», 90 min. (2014)

«The Last Night», 90 min. (2015)

«TERRQR», short film, 10 min. (2022)

«The Woman at the window», short film, 7 min. (2024)

«Devil’s Stone», 105 min. (2024)

«Inside a Spider», 72 min. (2025)

«My best life», (in production)

«Moscow Beasts», (in production)

 

Arseniy Gonchukov’s films have been shown at hundreds of international film festivals around the world, collecting a collection of more than twenty prizes and receiving high professional ratings from such cinematographers as Alexander Sokurov, Andrei Konchalovsky, Egor Konchalovsky, Alexander Proshkin, Pavel Lungin, Dmitry Mamulia, Vladimir Fenchenko, Alexander Kott, Armen Medvedev.

The films «Son» and «1210» were shown on TNT and Kultura TV channels. In 2014, the film «Son» was widely released in Russia and Poland.

In 2018, Arseny Gonchukov became a prizewinner a Special Prize «For his contribution to the development of web series in Russia — for the first web series «Dark Area», Russia’s first international web series festival, the Realist Web Fest. Later, the documentary series «Your Web Series» was filmed, which described in detail the first Russian web series «Dark Area».

In 2022, the film «The Woman at the Window» received the status of «Short Film Market Choice» at one of the world’s most prestigious short film festivals in Clermont-Ferrand.

In 2023, the new film «The Woman at the Window» won prizes in Italy and Romania for Best Actor and Best Screenplay.

In 2024, the film «Inside a Spider» won prizes for Best Director, Best Makeup and Art Direction, Best Acting, as well as prizes for Best Film at film festivals in the USA and Brazil.

Arseniy Gonchukov has participated in film screenings in the USA, France, Spain, Canada, Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Turkey, Iraq, India, Indonesia and many others. Participant of dozens of film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, 77th Montreal Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival Melbourne, Toronto World International Film Festival, Delhi International Film Festival, Kerala International Film Festival, Chacun son Court, Ten Festival Kijow Warszawa and many others.

 

Sergey Kudryavtsev, film critic, four-time winner of the Guild of Film Critics and Critics of Russia, commented on Arseny Gonchukov’s work:

Arseny Gonchukov, being obsessed with his work in cinema in a good way and infecting other people with his own enthusiasm, became practically the founder of independent cinema in Russia, often filmed with personal funds and donations from future viewers. Thanks to this, he turned out to be an example for other directors, beginners and relatively experienced, who also decided on a similar realization of their creative potential.

He became one of the first in Russia to create web series (two seasons of «Dark Area»), and also continued to work in full-length films after a break. Arseny Gonchukov has already made six such films.

According to Sergey Kudryavtsev, the author of the film encyclopedia «5000 films. Reviews for 50 years» the film «Flight. Three Days after the Disaster» by Arseniy Gonchukov is among the best Russian and Russian-language films for a quarter of a century (rating 7 out of 10).

 

FILMOGRAPHY. SERIES:

The author of the idea, director, screenwriter, producer of Russia’s first web series:

• «Dark Area» (19 episodes, 260 min., 2015-2018)

Director, co-author of the script and director of editing of the documentary historical web series:

• «Russia on Blood» (20 episodes, 2017)

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• «Desperate Christmas», collection of poems, 2003, «Dyatlovy Gory» publishing house;
• «How to make a movie without money», non-fiction, biography, 2019, EKSMO, the book went through three editions, was translated into Chinese and published in China;
• «Proof of Man», novel in short stories, 2023, AST, «Edited by Elena Shubina».
• «Not a movie», collection of verlibres, 2024, «Steklograf» publishing house.
• «The body: everyone has their own», collection of short stories by contemporary writers, 2024, AST, «Edited by Elena Shubina».

 

PRIZEWINNER OF SCREENWRITING AND DRAMA COMPETITIONS:

• Shortlist of the Lyubimovka Drama Festival.
• Omar Khayyam Literary Award «Mirror of the World». The second place in the nomination «Prose».
• The winner of the contest «Personal file» of the journal «The Art of Cinema».
• Special prize of the literary award «MyPrize».
• Shortlisted for the Antonovka Prize in the Prose category.
• Shortlist of the Voloshinsky competition in the categories of Prose and Drama.

 

Short stories, poems, plays and essays were published in the thick literary magazines «Znamya» («Banner»), «Druzhba narodov» («Friendship of Peoples»), «Yunost’» («Youth»), «Vozdukh» («Air»), «Novyy bereg» («New Coast»), «Iskusstvo kino» («The Art of Cinema»), «Sovremennaya dramaturgiya» («Modern Drama»), in compilation «Pashnya» («Arable land»), «Proiskhozhdeniye Mraka. Antologiya russkogo khorrora» («Periskop-Volga», 2019) («The Origin of Darkness. Anthology of Russian Horror»), and in such publications as «Literaturnaya gazeta», «Kol’tso A», «Prochteniye» (» Reading «), «Tekstura» («Texture»,), «Literratura», «Polutona» («Semitones») etc.

 

AWARDS AND PRIZES FOR FILMS:

1. «THE FINAL STOP», 15 min., feature film, 2011

SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

• Diploma of special mention in the online short film competition of the XXI Russian Film Festival «Window to Europe», St. Petersburg, 2013
• Prizewinner of the Independent Online Film Festival of the author’s cinema of the 3rd film season of 2013 ISFF-2013;
• 1st place in the nomination «Political Theme». West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival, West Virginia, USA, 2012;
• Diploma «For reflecting painful moments in the life of our society.» St. Anna Festival, Moscow, 2012;
• Silver prize «Jean-Luc» «For the right pathos». The festival of author’s cinema «Kinolikbez», Barnaul, 2012;
• Diploma «For a bold appeal to an acute social topic». Short Film Festival «Green Apple», Novosibirsk, 2012;

 

2. «1210» (ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND TEN), 73 min., feature film, 2012

SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

• The prize in the nomination «The Beginning». National Award «Country», Moscow, 2013
• The second All-Russian open Film Call contest. The main prize in the Feature Film category.
• The Volokolamsk Frontier Military-Patriotic Film Festival (Volokolamsk), 2013, Special Jury Prize;
• Anna award for the film «1210» «For the best performance of the main male role». VI Cheboksary International Film Festival, Cheboksary, 2013
• The Silver Jean-Luc Prize for «The Little Soldier» is for the best film about the war.» The fourth international festival of author’s cinema «Kinolikbez-4», Barnaul;
• Diploma «For the best premiere at the Tribune Film Club. Department of Culture, Moscow, GBUK «Moscow Cinema», Moscow, 2012;
• Diploma of the nominee of the XVI International Festival of Detective films and television programs on law enforcement subjects «DetectiveFEST», Moscow, 2013.

 

3. «FLIGHT. THREE DAYS AFTER THE DISASTER», 72 min., feature film, 2013

SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

• Prize in the Audience Award nomination; VII Cheboksary International Film Festival, Cheboksary, 2014

 

4. «SON», 90 min., feature film, 2014

SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

• The prize «For the best male role» for the film «Son». XVII All-Russian Shukshin Film Festival, Barnaul, 2015;
• The main prize is the Grand Prix for the film «Son». XXII Russian Film Festival «Window to Europe», Vyborg, 2014;
• Prize in the nomination «For the best male role» for the film «Son». Kinoshok Festival, Anapa, 2014;

 

5. «THE LAST NIGHT», 90 min., feature film, 2015

SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

• 2nd prize in the nomination «Best full-length film» for the film «The Last Night» at the Baghdad International Film Festival, Baghdad, 2016;
• The prize «For the best Director» for the film «The Last Night» at the IV Delhi International Film Festival, New Delhi, India, 2015.
• Youth Festival of Visual Arts «Green Apple», Diploma «For the best full-length film» (2015, Russia, Novosibirsk).

 

6. «DARK AREA», 230 min., feature film, 2015 — 2018

SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

• The prize «For contribution to the development of web series in Russia — for the first web series «District of Darkness» at the First International Web Series Festival Realist Web Fest 2018 (Nizhny Novgorod).

 

7. «THE WOMAN AT THE WINDOW», 7 min., feature film, 2023

SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

• The prize for the «Best screenplay» (Best Narrative December 2022) at the International Film Festival of the pan-European network of short films Short to the Point ISFF AWARDS (Romania).
• The prize for the «Best female role» for the performer of the main role in the film Marina Zasukhina at the Desenzano Film Festival (Italy). A unique statuette of Marmi Ghirardi made of black marble has been transferred to Russia.
• «Special Jury Prize» at the VOTETOFILM International Film Festival, 2024, Crimea.

 

8. «INSIDE A SPIDER», 72 min., feature film, 2025

DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER, PRODUCER

• «Best full-length film» and «Best Plastic Makeup» at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival (Los Angeles, USA).
• «Best Director», «Best Production Designer», «Best Lead Actor» at the International Film Festival Experimental Brasil Film Festival (Campos Dos Goytacazes, Rio De Janeiro Brazil).