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People

Roman Volobuev

Known For
Directing

Known Credits
4

Gender
Male

Birthday
July 30, 1977 (48 years old)

Place of Birth
Moscow, USSR

Roman Volobuev

Biography

Roman Olegovich Volobuev (Russian: Роман Олегович Волобуев; born July 31, 1977; Moscow) is a Russian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. Volobuev is best known for his 8-year tenure as film reviewer at Afisha magazine and for writing and directing TV series The Last Minister and Just Imagine Things We Know.

Born and raised in Moscow, Volobuev briefly worked as an investigative reporter at Obshaya Gazeta before starting to write film reviews for the Russian edition of Première magazine, Izvestia, Vedomosti and Iskusstvo Kino and in 2004 became a film section editor at Afisha. He also served as founding editor-in-chief of the short-lived Russian edition of Empire film magazine in 2007 and as deputy editor of GQ Russia in 2012.

In 2013, Volobuev and his co-writer Lena Vanina developed a political comedy series Zavtra (Tomorrow) about Russian liberal opposition winning presidential election for an independent cable news station TV Rain. Only pilot episode was produced, since TV Rain ran into political and financial troubles and could no longer finance the show. Volobuev's debut feature film The Cold Front (2016) a chamber mystery drama shot in Normandy was met with mostly lukewarm reviews and failed at the Russian box-office. His second film a satirical action comedy Blokbaster (2017) fared much better with critics and received the Special Jury Prize at Kinotavr film festival, but was disowned by Volobuev after a public spat with producers over the final cut. He eventually found a mainstream success with the black political comedy TV series The Last Minister and a 4-part mini-series about Moscow media industry Just Imagine Things We Know both released in 2020. Volobuev also co-wrote a post-apocalyptic drama series Survivors (2021) and appeared as an actor in Valeriya Gai Germanika's Brief Guide To A Happy Life (2011), Boris Khlebnikov's Hot and Bothered (2015) and Konstantin Bogomolov's A Good Man (2020).

Volobuev is highly critical of Russian authorities, once calling modern Russia "an authoritarian state with good Wi-Fi and a nice urban planning". He was a vocal supporter of Snow Revolution and has been detained during street protests in Moscow in 2012. In 2018, after the arrest of the fellow director Kirill Serebrennikov he publicly urged Russian filmmakers to stop applying for funding from Russia's Ministry of Culture. In 2022, Volobuev condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequently left Russia. In a manifesto published by Meduza he compared moral choices Russian filmmakers currently face to the ones German filmmakers faced under Hitler.

Known For

Writing

2023The White List...Screenplay
2022Aurora...Writer
2021Survivors...Writer
2020Just Imagine Things We Know...Writer
2020The Last Minister...Writer
2017Blockbuster...Writer
2017The Passenger...Screenplay
2016The Cold Front...Writer
2015Quest...Writer
2015Tomorrow...Writer

Production

2023The White List...Co-Producer
2023Riot Days...Producer
2017Middleground...Producer

Editing

2023The White List...Editor
2023Riot Days...Editor
2017Middleground...Editor
2015Tomorrow...Editor

Directing

2023Riot Days...Director
2022Aurora...Director
2020Just Imagine Things We Know...Director
2020Cursed Days...Director
2020The Last Minister...Director
2017Blockbuster...Director
2016The Cold Front...Director
2015Tomorrow...Director

Creator

2022Aurora...Creator
2021Survivors...Creator
2020Just Imagine Things We Know...Creator
2020The Last Minister...Creator

Acting

2020Just Imagine Things We Knowas former colleague
2020The Last Ministeras Y, senior curator from the presidential administration
2015Hornyas Владимир Семёнов
2015Questas