Natasha Merkulova is a renowned director and scriptwriter born on September 19, 1979, in the town of Buzuluk, Orenburg Region, USSR. She began her career in television after graduating from Irkutsk State University with a degree in journalism in 2001.
In 2003, Merkulova collaborated with director Andrey Kaminskiy to create the documentary 'THE CELL', which explored the lives of children born to HIV-infected parents. The film received the Artyom Borovik prize for investigative journalism.
Merkulova continued to hone her craft, presenting short documentaries such as 'Traumatism' in 2008, which earned a special prize at the Kinoshock film festival in Anapa, Russia.
In 2010, she graduated from the Advanced Course for Scriptwriters and Film Directors in Moscow, and in 2012, she presented two short films, 'Substance: Jam' and 'Substance: Milk', which were selected for various international film festivals.
Merkulova's feature film debut, 'Intimate Parts', was released in 2013, and it won several awards, including the Best Debut and Best Actress awards at the Kinotavr Film Festival in Sochi, Russia. The film was also selected for several international film festivals.
Since then, Merkulova has collaborated with scriptwriter and director Alexey Chupov on numerous projects. In 2016, they directed the TV series 'Tender Age Crisis' for the Russian TV channel TNT, and in 2017-2018, they created the cinematic series 'Gogol', which was theatrically released wide in Russia and collected a record-breaking box office.
Merkulova and Chupov also produced the space drama feature film 'Salyut 7', which won the Best Feature Film and Best Film Editing Golden Eagle awards. In 2018, they directed the feature film 'The Man Who Surprised Everyone', which was selected for the Horizons Competition of the Venice International Film Festival and won the Best Actress award.
In 2020, their action thriller series 'Call Center' premiered on TNT TV channel and was digitally released on PREMIER global SVOD platform, winning the Best Script award at the Pilot film festival in Ivanovo, Russia.
