Igor Parfenov

Igor Parfenov was born on March 8th, 1962. Since school he has been fond of philosophy and reading, has always had concern for animal welfare. As an extreme tourism lover, he has travelled around Altai, run mountain rivers in a raft. In 1986, he got the Judo M.S. In 1989, he graduated Kharkov Physical Training Institute. In 1984 - 1990, he has worked as a senior coach in a judo sportive school. 1997 - Present time the head of remedial "Steps" center, named after Leo Tolstoy. (Human rights, animal and environment protection). He has organized over 200 different events to support initiation of acts on human and animal rights in Ukraine. 1995 - 2005 he has created and published remedial and philosophic non- commercial "Kryk" magazine (human rights, animal protection). In 2000, Igor nominated "Environmentalist of the year" and awarded "Man of the year - Man of the millennium" (Kyiv, Ukraine). 2004 - Present time he created STEPS film studio and started directing feature and short films. To the present time, he has directed 10 feature films, a number of documentaries and short films, was a nominee and a winner in more than 60 international film festivals. 2005 - 2010 was publishing a social newspaper "Time to protect the animals". 2007 - Created STEPS IFF, annual festival on Human Rights, Animal Rights and Environmental protection, that has over 50 participating countries from all over the world. The films aimed at promoting animal welfare, environmental protection and human rights defense, as well as films of spiritual and philosophical orientation. Since 2011, Igor Parfenov is a member of Filmmakers' Union of Ukraine. He is a strong vegetarian.