Aleksei Balabanov

Balabanov was born on 25 February 1959, in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). In 1994, Balabanov, together with Sergey Selyanov and Viktor Sergeyev, founded the production company CTV. That same year, he directed an adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Castle. His next film, Brother (1997), a crime drama about a contract killer, was a box-office and critical success. The film featured music by the band Nautilus Pompilus for which Balabanov had previously directed several music videos. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. Balabanov's last completed film was Me Too, which was screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2012. Personal life He was married to costume designer Nadezhda Vasilyeva. He had two sons. Balabanov was buried near his father's grave at Smolensky Cemetery in St. Petersburg. ==Unfinished projects==

Prior to his death, Balabanov was reportedly planning to make a film on Stalin, portraying him as a 'godfather of crime'. ==Legacy==

Largely due to the popularity of Brother and Brother 2, Balabanov is frequently cited as one of Russia's greatest ever film directors. ==Works==

Filmography Music videos Balabanov directed several music videos: • Three clips for the band Nautilus Pompilius: "A glimpse from the screen" (, 1988), "Pure demon" (, 1992), and "In the rain" (, 1997; soundtrack to his movie Brother); • A clip for '''': "Stratosphere" (, 1989); • Together with the director Valery Makushchenko, a clip for the band Bi-2: "No One Writes to the Colonel" (, 2000; soundtrack to his film Brother 2). Bibliography • Florian Weinhold (2013), ''Path of Blood: The Post-Soviet Gangster, His Mistress and Their Others in Aleksei Balabanov's Genre Films''. Reaverlands Books: North Charleston, SC. Notes • Aleksei Balabanov was awarded the "Best Director" award for the film Me Too (Я тоже хочу) (2012) at the Saint Petersburg International Film Festival. == See also ==