Born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, in 1986 Mariya Nikiforova received a BFA from Emerson College (Boston) in 2009 and a Master’s degree from the Sorbonne-Nouvelle (Paris) in 2016. Nikiforova is currently pursuing a PhD at Université Paris 8 (Saint-Denis), working at the distribution cooperative Light Cone, and pursuing film projects at L’Abominable.