Dmitry Leonidovich Davydov (russian: Дмитрий Леонидович Давыдов, Amga,

Sakha Republic Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...

, Russia; was born February 22, 1983) is a Russian film director. His first film, ''Bonfire'', was screened at the

21st Busan International Film Festival The 21st Busan International Film Festival was held from October 6 to October 15, 2016 at the Busan Cinema Center and was hosted by Sol Kyung-gu and Han Hyo-joo. A total of 301 films from 69 countries were screened at the festival, including 96 wo ...

, and won an award for best dramatic feature at the

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto in the month of October. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Abori ...

in Toronto. It was nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. This is the first film produced in the Sakha Republic which won a festival award outside of Russia. On April 29, 2017 he won an award best film director at the national filmfestival named #DVIZHENIE (Omsk city). Davydov was born in Amga. His mother is Russian, his father is Yakut. Dmitry first studied at the Pedagogical Gymnasium in Amga, then at the Pedagogical University in Neryungri. He subsequently returned to Amga and took a job as a schoolteacher. He now works in Chapchylgan,

Amginsky District Amginsky District (russian: Амги́нский улу́с; sah, Амма улууһа, ''Amma uluuha'') is an administrativeConstitution of the Sakha Republic, Article 45 and municipalLaw #172-Z #351-III district (raion, or ''ulus''), one ...

, as the director of the Filipp Lobanov Chapchylgan School. He is married and has two children. Davydov has no training in cinema, except for attending several master classes in

Yakutsk Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of ...

. His directing career actually began in a Yakutsk school in 2009, where as a teacher he led optional video courses for students. One day he saw that there was a demand for films in the native ethnic language among the locals in Yakutia and decided to make them. All of his films are shown, including at cinemas and festivals, in the Yakut dialect with Russian subtitles. He produced the screenplay for ''Bonfire'' himself, writing it in Russian; the screenplay was later translated to

Sakha Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...

. To produce the film, Davydov had to take a loan. The characters are played by inhabitants of Amga, who by no means are professional actors. A peculiarity of his directorial style is shooting only in his native region of Yakutia and uniquely short filming periods, for example, for "Pugalo" he spent only 11 filming days. He financed all of his films from his own funds, which he took mostly from loans. His budgets are always incredibly small for the modern film industry. For example, for his popular film "Pugalo" Davydov spent only 1.5 million rubles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davydov, Dmitry Living people Russian film directors Russian schoolteachers Year of birth missing (living people)