The team of the TSU Higher School of Journalism organized the Echo of the III SiberiaDoc International Documentary Film Festival. Tomsk citizens had an opportunity to watch the screenings of documentaries and discuss the films with directors and moderators. The festival was held as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of journalistic education at Tomsk State University.
Tomsk became the first city in the Echo program. Besides, screenings will also be held in Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk regions and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Echo format is a screening of several films selected by the organizers. Four films were shown and discussed in Tomsk: "Unworthy" by Nina Izotova, "Warm Life" by Nikita Zhuravlev, "Kolkhandra" by Kirill Verkhozin and "Foundation Pit" by Nikolai Bem.
A special guest of the event was Nikolai Bem, founder of the SiberiaDOC project, director, producer, member of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation, Guild of Non-Fiction Cinema and Television.
- These films represent different programs of the festival: short and medium meter, Russian and parallel programs. But they are united by the main thing - they resonate with the viewer. I believe honest stories told with genuine intent can truly inspire. They demonstrate that young authors can shoot a movie even with minimal technical capabilities - and at the same time go to the big screen. For students, this becomes an important motivation to work, - said Nikolai Bem.
Photo by Anna Rukhubovskaya, TSU Higher School of Journalism
The TSU program "Journalism and New Media" offers six profiles. One of these is documentary cinema. Students study at the intersection of journalism and cinematography, in addition to reporting, investigative, editorial skills, they study acting, screenwriting, directing, editing, as well as the promotion of film projects.
- The festival is one of the best forms of training: it allows to simultaneously immerse in the living process of cinema, get acquainted with the authors, understand the creative intent and context of the film. At the same time, the festival remains a space of celebration - where observation is combined with communication and a dream of recognition. It is according to this principle that training is built at our Higher School of Journalism. Students are simultaneously in the profession and in art: they master both the festival format and industrial cinema, learn to work with the audience and the customer, to maintain a balance between creative and commercial tasks, - said Ilya Myasnikov, Dean of the Higher School of Journalism.
For reference: The III International Documentary Film Festival SiberiaDOC, founded in Krasnoyarsk in 2023, in three years has become a key platform for promoting documentary films in Siberia and beyond. Its mission is to show real documentary focused on piercing human stories, including from remote regions of Russia and the world. In 2025, 37 films from 15 countries were presented for the competition with the Grand Prix awarded to Vincent Boujon, France for "Boats". The project is supported by the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives.
