Meet Aleksei Doktorevich | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aleksei Doktorevich and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aleksei, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born in Moscow, Russia almost 22 years ago, and I lived there for 18 years. As a kid, my mom took me to live theaters a lot, so I saw many performances early in my life. In school, I was studying Russian classic literature heavily (Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and others). I traveled around Europe and Asia a lot with my family, so from early on I got introduced to different cultures. All that, in my opinion, made me pursue a path of an artist and move to LA to study filmmaking (art that encompasses all arts).

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started to shoot short films back in Moscow when I was still in high school, and I didn’t think of myself as an artist back then. Around the same time, my friend started recommending to me all the old famous films of Hitchcock, Godard, and Eisenstein. Watching all those films really changed my perspective on cinema and showed me all the endless possibilities that the art of film has. Since then I wanted to learn more about the craft of filmmaking, and that desire brought me to LA (probably the best place to learn film), where I did my BFA in filmmaking at New York Film Academy. From the very beginning of my academic life, I devoted my art to the goal of pushing the boundaries of film as a medium. Some of my school works got recognized by the festivals for their experimental nature (selected to represent NYFA at the BAFTA Student Awards 2020, and Serbfest 2022). I still believe that as filmmakers we don’t utilize all the possibilities that film as a medium is capable of.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Of course, there are touristy places that everyone wants to check, but I would introduce them to the area where I live and spend most of my time (Burbank and Toluca Lake). And then I would show them the places that are important to me personally such as Silver Lake where I shot my last movie (coming soon), the Hollywood sign at night (magical view and vibe), and old town Pasadena (cool restaurants and cafes).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents, my friends, and my alma mater

Instagram: @aleksei_doktorevich

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpG2msVeIzT_QBs2TLfVOyQ

Other: https://filmfreeway.com/Aleksei_Doktorevich