TEAM
DMITRII PETROV / FOUNDER,
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Photographer and a filmmaker, creator and director of a documentary film project 'Letters from Within', a former associate professor at St. Petersburg State University, Russia (Faculty of Arts, 1999-2014).
Dmitrii did his Ph.D. in Literature and Arts (European avant-garde and American culture) at St. Petersburg State University and worked there as an associate professor for more than 15 years. In 2011 during his gap year he made a round the world trip, visited more than 20 countries, volunteered in Bolivian rainforest in a Centre of Custody of Wild Animals (CCFC) and as a teacher in a high school on Alor Island in Indonesia. This trip inspired him to make a project about unique places but show them through the stories of locals, a project for everyone who wants to travel as a part of this world, not just as a spectator.
In 2014 he quit his job, crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a small yacht with the crew of four people, where only the captain had some kind of experience, and started to make short videos.
He volunteered in a senior residence in a small town of New Jersey making a video presentation that brought the place new sponsors.
Since then, together with Anna, they’ve been working with scientific, educational, and nonprofit organizations across the country and around the world. Cooperated with Princeton, MIT, Bar-Ilan Universities, Allen Institute of AI, Association for Computing Machinery, various schools, foundations, and scientific magazines.
Dmitrii Petrov received a 2024 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
ANNA SOLDATOVA / FOUNDER,
POST-PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Film editor. Educated in History of Arts and languages; M.A. in American studies (American literature, Gertrude Stein, theory of literature, narrative techniques in literature and cinematography).
In 2005-2011 she worked as a TV and print journalist in Russia. Experienced in post-production, skilled in FCPX, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Davinci Resolve, etc.
From 2014 – co-creator of the independent online documentary project “Letters from Within” and director of post-production at DVA Productions.
Together with Dmitrii, they produce all sorts of videos, including animations, motion design projects, and able to create videos fully remotely.