Alvi launched
VICE magazine with
Shane Smith and
Gavin McInnes in
Montreal in 1996, after the three men bought its precursor,
Voices of Montreal, from Interimages Communications. In 2002, Alvi created
VICE Music, the company's record label which has partnered with over 50 artists and sold more than 7 million albums worldwide. Its clients have included
Snoop Dogg,
Action Bronson,
Black Lips,
Justice,
Chromeo,
The Streets,
Bloc Party, and
Death From Above 1979. In 2011, Alvi launched a partnership between VICE Music and
Warner Bros. Records. In 2006, as VICE was expanding from magazine publishing to video reporting, Alvi reported on a segment titled
Gun Markets of Pakistan, in which he travelled to
Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas to cover illegal mass weapons production that was flourishing in the fallout of the
Soviet–Afghan War. Since then, he has covered stories from around the world, reporting on conflicts and unrest in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Pakistan,
Afghanistan,
Iraq, and the
Gaza Strip. He has also produced and hosted documentaries for VICE on HBO, VICE News and the
VICE Guide to Travel series. In 2007, Alvi co-directed and executive-produced
Heavy Metal in Baghdad for
VICE Films, in which he travels to Iraq and follows the
heavy metal band
Acrassicauda during the fall of
Saddam Hussein amidst the
Iraq War, beginning in 2003 after the
United States-led invasion of Iraq. The film was an official selection at the
2007 Toronto International Film Festival and the
2008 Berlin International Film Festival, and was named Best Documentary at the
2008 Warsaw Film Festival. In 2012, Alvi along with director
Andy Capper travelled VICE to
Jamaica, where he produced the feature-length film, REINCARNATED, featuring Snoop Dogg. The film was accepted at the
2012 Toronto International Film Festival and had its U.S. premiere at the
2013 SXSW festival. In 2014, Alvi served as a guest curator for the PHI Centre in Montreal and oversaw a month's worth of programming. In 2020, the
VICE Guide to Iran, hosted by Alvi, was released shortly after the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' shoot-down of
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 during an
Iran–United States standoff as part of the
2019-2021 Persian Gulf crisis. In the feature-length documentary, Alvi interviews ordinary
Iranians about life under the
Islamic government and covers the impact of
international sanctions on the country after the
1979 Islamic Revolution. He also interviews prominent Iranian political figures, including
Masoumeh Ebtekar and
Hossein Sheikholeslam, who were among
the students involved in the
1979–1981 Iran hostage crisis. Sheikholeslam died in March 2020 after contracting
COVID-19, one month prior to the documentary's release. ==Personal life==