Andrei Plakhov

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Andrei Stepanovich Plakhov (Russian: Андрей Степанович Плахов) (born 14 September 1950) is a Russian film critic and historian of cinema, columnist for Kommersant newspaper. President (since 2005) of the International Federation of Film Critics.

Plakhov was born in Starokostiantyniv, Ukrainian SSR. After graduating in mechanics and mathematics from Lviv University, he studied history of cinema at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. In 1982 he defended a Ph.D. thesis about Luchino Visconti. Since the seventies Plakhov wrote articles and reviews for daily and professional press, both Russian and international, (Pravda, Iskusstvo kino, Seans, Sight and Sound, Guardian, Cahiers du Cinema, etc.), he currently works as an author of cinema reviews for Kommersant. During Perestroika Plakhov was a secretary of the USSR Union of Cinematographers and a head of the Conflict Committee, which released more than 200 films banned by Soviet censorship. Plakhov published several books about Soviet and modern world cinema. He is co-ordinator of the Moscow International Film Festival and a member of the European Film Academy.