Alexandr Rastorguev

Directing · 1971–2018 · Rostov na Donu, USSR (Russia)

Alexander Yevgenyevich Rastorguev (Russian: Алекса́ндр Евге́ньевич Расторгу́ев; born 26 June 1971, Rostov-on-Don — died 31 July 2018, Sibut, CAR) was a Russian documentary filmmaker, cinematographer and producer. He is considered one of the main and iconic Russian documentary director. He is close in his search for the "new drama", the direction of work Theatre.doc. He collaborated with Vitaly Mansky as a screenwriter and producer.

Full biography

Born in 1971 in Rostov-on-Don (USSR, Russia). He studied at the Faculty of Philology of Rostov State University. In 1999, he graduated from the State Academy of Theater Arts in St. Petersburg (1998). He worked as a director of GTRK "Don-TR". For shooting the film "Clean Thursday", the creative team of the film was dismissed by the management of "Don-TR". He worked in the St. Petersburg edition of the NTV TV channel. In 2001, he organized the Kino Studio. As a director, he co-directed the documentary films "I Love You" (2010) and "I Don't Love You" (2012) with the documentary filmmaker Pavel Kostomarov. The films were presented at several foreign film festivals (France, the Netherlands). In 2011, Alexander Rastorguev presented his film "I Love You" in the competition program of the Rotterdam Festival. In 2009, Alexander Rastorguev wrote specifically for OpenSpace.ru manifesto of the new cinema.

He was killed on July 30, 2018, along with two colleagues — Orhan Dgemal and Kirill Radchenko — in the Central African Republic. There, according to media reports, he made a film about the activities of the "Wagner Group".