Maria Muzdybaeva

Maria Muzdybaeva

Maria Muzdybaeva is Assistant Editor at The Calvert Journal. She holds an MA degree in European & Russian Studies from Yale University, where her research focused on Comparative Literature and Film. You can read her creative work on her website.

Just leave me alone: this space in St Petersburg is a heaven for introverted art lovers

Just leave me alone: this space in St Petersburg is a heaven for introverted art lovers

Chekhov on screen: 6 unmissable film adaptations

Chekhov on screen: 6 unmissable film adaptations

Aliona van der Horst explores the life and death of poet Boris Ryzhy | Film of the week

Aliona van der Horst explores the life and death of poet Boris Ryzhy | Film of the week

The books that defined David Bowie’s love of Eastern Europe

The books that defined David Bowie’s love of Eastern Europe

The films and TV shows you can’t miss in 2022

The films and TV shows you can’t miss in 2022

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel is an Estonian sci-fi mystery set among snowy vistas | Film of the Week

Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel is an Estonian sci-fi mystery set among snowy vistas | Film of the Week

The magical restaurants of the Moscow suburbs

The magical restaurants of the Moscow suburbs

Hilarious and heartfelt, Cosy Dens is a warm Christmas film from Czech Republic | Film of the Week

Hilarious and heartfelt, Cosy Dens is a warm Christmas film from Czech Republic | Film of the Week

5 Eastern European films to look out for at Sundance Film Festival 2022

5 Eastern European films to look out for at Sundance Film Festival 2022

Patriki Film Festival launches open call for its first digital film competition

Patriki Film Festival launches open call for its first digital film competition

Abandoned Kemerovo: tracing the 20th century in Siberia

Abandoned Kemerovo: tracing the 20th century in Siberia

12:08 East of Bucharest conjures the Ghosts of Christmas and Revolution Past | Film of the week

12:08 East of Bucharest conjures the Ghosts of Christmas and Revolution Past | Film of the week

Remembering Sergey Solovyov, the Russian filmmaker who captured the spirit of perestroika

Remembering Sergey Solovyov, the Russian filmmaker who captured the spirit of perestroika

Festive film posters from Eastern Europe

Festive film posters from Eastern Europe

Where the heart is: these young artists are transforming Russia’s regions

Where the heart is: these young artists are transforming Russia’s regions

After a head injury, one man uses photography to separate mirage from reality in small town Russia

After a head injury, one man uses photography to separate mirage from reality in small town Russia

These video game landscapes will make you nostalgic for worlds you’ve never visited

Follow of the week

These video game landscapes will make you nostalgic for worlds you’ve never visited

‘I’m always interested in the wrong side of the cloth:’ Haim Sokol on exploring the unseen violence of history

‘I’m always interested in the wrong side of the cloth:’ Haim Sokol on exploring the unseen violence of history

Satirical Yugoslavian romance Man Is Not a Bird is a hypnotic film about desire | Film of the week

Satirical Yugoslavian romance Man Is Not a Bird is a hypnotic film about desire | Film of the week

Aleksey Balabanov: where to start with his films

Aleksey Balabanov: where to start with his films

Set in Armenia, The Lighthouse is a poetic, personal story on the return to childhood | Film of the Week

Set in Armenia, The Lighthouse is a poetic, personal story on the return to childhood | Film of the Week

Wake up, Danila: what if Aleksey Balabanov made Cyberpunk 2077?

Wake up, Danila: what if Aleksey Balabanov made Cyberpunk 2077?

From ‘cyborgroaches’ to plant communications: meet Russia’s bio-art pioneers

From ‘cyborgroaches’ to plant communications: meet Russia’s bio-art pioneers

Mesmerisingly minimalist, Beshkempir is a relatable coming-of-age story from Central Asia | Film of the Week

Mesmerisingly minimalist, Beshkempir is a relatable coming-of-age story from Central Asia | Film of the Week

Russian Film Festival on UK’s BFI player: our 3 highlights to stream

Russian Film Festival on UK’s BFI player: our 3 highlights to stream

Witty and poignant, Paweł Pawlikowski’s From Moscow to Pietushki is an ode to reading and drinking | Film of the Week

Witty and poignant, Paweł Pawlikowski’s From Moscow to Pietushki is an ode to reading and drinking | Film of the Week

Exposing Fabergé‘s international connections, from St Petersburg to London

Exposing Fabergé‘s international connections, from St Petersburg to London

Subversive and surrealist, Daisies is the feminist black comedy for our times | Film of the Week

Subversive and surrealist, Daisies is the feminist black comedy for our times | Film of the Week

5 Russian media artists rethinking our relationship with the spaces we live in

5 Russian media artists rethinking our relationship with the spaces we live in

6 artists explore what it means to be human amid an uncertain future

6 artists explore what it means to be human amid an uncertain future

Skateboarding in Shambala: photos from a whirlwind summer ride through Russia’s alpine lakes and Siberian borderlands

Skateboarding in Shambala: photos from a whirlwind summer ride through Russia’s alpine lakes and Siberian borderlands

Herbarium: a Moscow exhibition explores tenderness through Russian photography

Herbarium: a Moscow exhibition explores tenderness through Russian photography

‘I have two dads:’ read an extract from a Russian coming-of-age novel about a child raised by gay parents

‘I have two dads:’ read an extract from a Russian coming-of-age novel about a child raised by gay parents