Edgar Bartenev was born in 1966 in Kazan, Russia. He worked as a doctor for ten years. Then studied script writing in Higher School of Cinematography, Moscow. In 2001 Bartenev graduated from Higher Courses of script writers and directors, Moscow (Alexey German and Svetlana Karmalita’s workshop). Director’s interest to Finno-ugor culture appeared for the first time when he was a doctor at that area. He used to visit Nenets’ families and see their everyday life and culture. Edgar Bartnev’s first attempt to reflect in cinema that culture was a full-length feature film project (with the support of Cannes Festival Residence). That was the first step to realize “Yaptik-hasse”.