Valery Smirnov

Journalist, historian, film critic

In 1974 he graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) University. He completed his student internship in Kaliningrad. He worked for newspapers and television companies in Dushanbe and Tver as a correspondent, deputy editor and editor-in-chief. For ten years he worked in the administration of the Governor of Tver Oblast, where he headed the department responsible for providing information support to the head of the region. He currently works as a freelance journalist. He has taught courses on the history of theatre and on the practice of theatre and television criticism at Tver State University. He has served on the juries of theatre and film festivals in Tver. He heads the criticism section of the Tver branch of the Union of Theatre Workers of Russia.