- Masha Novikova was born in 1956 in Moscow, USSR. She studied pedagogy at the University of Moscow. And later worked as a teacher Russian language and literature. In Kazachstan she worked as a director-assistant in a German drama theater. Short before the fall of the Berlin Wall she came to the Netherlands, since then she has been living and working in Amsterdam. First Masha Novikova worked as interpretot and as a teacher Russian. She also worked as a guide in the 'Szar Peter House' in Zaandam. Later Masha started to work as an executive producer for Dutch television. At the same time she studied by Stefan Mayakowski at the 'Kunstweb' camera, script writing and filmdirection.
In 2005 she directed her first film 'Fallen Engel', documentary about traffic in East -European women who were brought to the Netherland to work as prostitues. She did work in Chechnya for documentary by Leo de Boer entitled 'Train to Grozny'. Driven by a feeling of shame about her own country, she has felt very much involved with the Chechnyan war ever since. She also filmed in the other post-Soviet countries, such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Lithuania. She is especially interested in the themes that tell about the individuals in dictatorial state, the influence of war and revolutions on an ordinary citizen. Together with her three daughters, she runs film production company NOVDOC.
