Yelena Lanskaya

Yelena Lanskaya trained as a pianist at the Abakan Music College and performed in The Abakan Chamber Orchestra in Russia. When she moved to Ukraine, she became a television journalist. As an on-camera interviewer at Odessa Television, she worked with the famous Ukrainian showman Anatoliy Dovgonos on his variety show THE EVENING COURIER and on his morning in-depth city special ODESSA'S MERIDIAN, for which he was awarded with the highest rank: The Title of Honored Journalist, and with a Cross for "Outstanding Public Service" by the president of the Ukraine.

Yelena studied filmmaking at the American Film Institute and has since worked on editorials on a number of award-winning productions for Hallmark Entertainment and Hallmark Hall of Fame.

Recently, Yelena was selected from several hundred applicants for the thirteenth cycle of the American Film Institute's prestigious Directing Workshop for Women, where she made her narrative film directorial debut with MIGHT AS WELL LIVE.