Marusya Syroechkovskaya is a Moscow-born, award-winning filmmaker and visual artist. She studied filmmaking at the School for Documentary Film in Moscow under Marina Razbezhkina and received her MA in Film Directing at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Moscow (graduating with honors). Her first feature-length film, How to Save a Dead Friend, was screened at over 60 film festivals and received over 25 awards. The film was shortlisted for best documentary by the 2022 European Film Awards and qualified for the 2023 Academy Awards.  This film was the winner of the 20th edition of Documenta Madrid. Marusya's training includes workshops such as Ex Oriente Film, IDFAcademy, and Berlinale Talents. She is a 2015 Nipkow Program Fellow (Berlin, Germany). Marusya is a member of the European Film Academy.