Upon graduating from the Director's Department of the Russian State Film School (VGIK) in 1996, he launched his career with a documentary entitled The Time When Dreams Melt. He continued to film his best work in his native land, focusing on the lives of the local people. These works include The Birds of Naukan, The Island, The Hunters of Cold Shores and The Book of the Sea as his latest project. One of his works, The Tundra Book, was the recipient of the prestigious Nika Award of the Russian Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for Best Documentary of the Year. Since 2009, Aleksei has been at the helm of his own production company, High Latitudes, which continues to focus on the Indigenous peoples of the North.
Berlinale
