27 July 12:00
Pavilion, New Holland Island
born in 1972 in Moscow into the family of a screenwriter and studied psychology at Moscow State University and the University of Wisconsin. In 1995 he teamed up with Boris Khlebnikov, a film theory student, to direct two shorts. Their joint directorial debut feature, Koktebel (2003) scored a hat-trick by screening in the official selection at Berlin, Cannes and Toronto, as well as Moscow and Karlovy Vary. Simple Things (2007), Alexei’s first solo effort as writer/director, won a number of prestigious international awards, swept all top accolades in Sochi and Angers, and was named Best Screenplay at the Russian Academy Awards. How I Ended This Summer (2010), set and shot on a polar station in the Russian Arctic, was Alexei’s third feature as writer/director. The film won two Silver Bears in Berlin and went on to win Best Film and Best Screenplay at Russian Film Academy Awards. Following his studies at the European Film Academy 3D Masterclass, Alexei directed a 3D short, Bloodrop (2011). Initially concieved as a tongue-in-cheek technical test, it went on to be released in cinemas, generated hundreds of thousands views on the Web, and won Special Awards at the 3D Image Festival in Lodz and Stereomedia in Brussels. In 2017 Alexei directed a 13-episode TV series, The Optimists, which won a Russian Academy Award. Alexei was a jury member at Sundance, London, Karlovy Vary, Pusan, Sochi and Sakhalin film festivals. Presently, Alexei Popogrebsky is the Head of the Directing Department