Yuri Bykov

Yuri Bykov's film "The Guard" is set to be released in 2018.

In 2016 he finished shooting the action series "Sleepers" based on the script by Sergei Minaev. Bykov notes that at the beginning of the project there were talks about the possibility of an auteur series, but then he became an ordinary hired director without the right to participate in post-production, including editing. When the series was shown on television, it received a strongly negative response from the audience. On 13 October 2017, Yuri announced that he has betrayed the progressive generation and that he will take an indefinite hiatus from directing, but will still finish his work on The Guard.

He founded the Koda film company in 2016 to significantly reduce the cost of administering his own auteur films and gaining more overall control over the filming process.

In 2014, the social drama film The Fool was released. The picture received a number of prestigious awards, including the Grigori Gorin prize for the best script and the diploma of the Russian Guild of Film Critics ("For the uncompromising artistic expression") at the Kinotavr-2014 festival. Also the film was highly rated by The New York Times critic Stephen Holden, who named it as one the five best films of 2015.

In 2014 he became the director of the first season of the crime drama television series The Method, which was released on the screen next year. Konstantin Khabensky, who liked Bykov's work on the film "The Major", invited him to work as director on the series. Yuri Bykov notes that he shot the series "according to the principles of the comics" in its light form and followed the instructions of the showrunner Alexander Tsekalo about creating a "Russian HBO". The series received the TEFI award in the category "Television film / TV series" and several other awards. Bykov refused to participate in the shooting of the second season because he wanted to concentrate on making more auteur films.

In 2013, his film The Major premiered in the International Critics' Week at the Cannes Film Festival. The crime drama was awarded at several festivals, including prizes for Best Picture, Best Director and For Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival. In 2016, the American company Netflix received distribution rights and plans to remake the film as a mini-series, titled Seven Seconds, which will include 10 episodes.

In 2010 Yuri Bykov made his feature film debut with the film To Live.

In 2009, he directed a short film "The Chief", in which he appeared as a screenwriter, director, composer, producer and actor. The film was awarded the prize for best short film at the Kinotavr Film Festival. The film was shot using 150 thousand rubles, which Bykov previously planned to invest in his training at the directing faculty of the VGIK from Vadim Abdrashitov, where he was accepted twice.

In 2005 Yuri graduated from the acting department of VGIK (workshop of Vladimir Grammatikov). After VGIK he played in theaters: the Moscow Art Theater, Et Cetera, the Theater of the Moon, the Russian Army Theatre. In the latter he played the main role in the play "The Marriage of Belugin", but left during the rehearsal due to low salary and loss of interest. He played small roles in films and television series. For six years he was a clown animator in the Armenian children's club "Yauza", where he played the role of Jack Sparrow.

From 2005 to 2009 he made commercials and tried to shoot short films, but ended up not being satisfied with them. In 2006 he shot a six-minute film "Happiness", in 2007 a five-minute film "Stroka" and in 2008 a fourteen-minute film "Evening".

Yuri Anatoleyvich Bykov (Russian: Ю́рий Анато́льевич Бы́ков; born August 15, 1981) is a Russian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is best known for directing the films The Major, The Fool and the TV series The Method.

Yuri Bykov was born on August 15, 1981 in Novomichurinsk, Ryazan Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. First he lived with his parents in a trailer. Bykov's father was a chauffeur by profession, his mother worked at the Novomichurinsky plant of large-panel housing construction. Around 1987 his father left for Tyumen and he did not see him again. Approximately for 12 years, Bykov lived only with his mother. Later, the mother remarried, the stepfather was employed as a crane operator at a power plant. Bykov grew up in poverty. His mother would force him to steal food from the neighbours lot.