Bio
Nikita Pavlov is a accomplished documentary filmmaker with a passion for visual storytelling. He was born in 1982 in Moscow, Russia, and worked as a professional photographer for over a decade in both Russia and Israel. During this time, Nikita was a staff photographer for Seance film magazine and publishing house, and also worked as a freelancer for various other magazines.
In collaboration with Seance, Nikita had the opportunity to create two books featuring portraits of Russian cinema makers. However, he eventually shifted his focus to cinema while studying at Musrara – The Naggar School of Photography and New Media in Jerusalem, Israel. In 2011, Nikita scripted, directed, and filmed his first feature documentary movie, When New Year Comes on Shabbat.
Since then, he has relocated to Berlin, Germany, where he currently works as a cinematographer engaged in a variety of film media to include documentaries, interviews, and full-length feature films. Here he produced content for major media players like Wall Street Journal, VICE, Bloomberg, Forbes, and more. Also creates engaging videos for social media that range from live shows to bite-sized vertical clips.
One of his notable works includes documenting Alexey Navalny's return to Russia and subsequent arrest for the Oscar-winning movie Navalny (director Daniel Roher, DoP Niki Waltl, Sundance 2022, BAFTA, OSCARS 2023).
Nikita has garnered recognition for his contributions to various film projects showcased at international festivals. He has directed the award-winning documentary, «When New Year Comes on Shabbat», which was featured at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival in 2012. This film was also noted with the Esther Hevroni excellence award.
As a director of photography, Nikita has been recognized for his work at several festivals, including IDFA, Zargebdox, Tempo, and ArtDocFest for his documentary «It's Getting Dark» (DocuTIFF 2017 prize).
As for 2023, Nikita persists in the creation of visually captivating stories. He specializes in working with people and conducting interviews, creating documentaries on various complex topics such as LGBTQIA+ and migration, as well as business and technology.
Filmography
2023 Shadow Men: Inside Russia’s Secret War Company (The Wall Street Journal Documentary), 40 min
2023 TikTok Addicton Machine (Bloomberg Investigates), 24 min
2023 How to make poor areas richer (The Economist), 19 min
2022 NAVALNY (episode cinematographer), director Daniel Roher, 98 minutes (OSCAR and BAFTA 2023 for Best Documentary, Sundance 2022 U.S. Documentary Audience Award and the Festival Favorite Award)
2021 IIIAZD (DoP), director Stanislav Dorochenkov, 90 minutes (FIDMarseille 2021)
2021 In Search of My Sister (episode cinematographer), director Jawad Mir, 80 min
2021 The Double Life of Wirecard’s Fugitive Executive (Bloomberg), 13 min
2021 The Stock Market Scheme That Almost Killed a Soccer Team (Bloomberg), 12 min
2021 AI Relationships: How we could fall in Love with Machines, director Ross Bolidai, documentary series, 19 min.
2020 eSport revolution, documentary series
2020 Shipwreck Secrets (episode cinematographer), documentary series (Yesterday, Discovery Science)
2019 Apollo: Back to the Moon (episode cinematographer), director François Pomès, documentary series (National Geographic)
2019 Europe’s New Wild (episode cinematographer), documentary series (National Geographic, WWF, France 5, Redbull/Servus TV and SVT)
2019 Being Transgender In Far-Right Hungary (AJ+), 3 min
2019 I, Pastafari: A Flying Spaghetti Monster Story (episode cinematographer), director Michael Arthur, 56 min (Nashville Film Festival)
2018 Signed or Released (episode cinematographer), documentary series (RedBull)
2019 I Don’t Want, artist Maria Naumova, 16 min, 3 channel installation
2018 I Want, artist Maria Naumova, 26 min
2017 The Meat on the Picture, artist Maria Naumova, 9 min
2017 The Banker of The Third Reich (episode cinematographer), director François Pomès, 52 min (RMC Découverte and Paris Première).
2017 College Of Wizardry (60 Second Docs), 1 min
2016 It’s Getting Dark (DoP), director Olga Kravets, documentary, 52 min (IDFA 2016, DocuTIFF 2017 Best Debut Film)
2016 The Future of Finland (episode cinematographer), director Nina Pulkkis, documentary series (Winner Life Sciences Film Festival 2016, MTV3)
2016 Tomorrow Will Be The Same, director Petr Zhukov, 66 min.
2016 Çiçek, director Petr Zhukov, 153 min.
2014 Brit Milah, director Nikita Pavlov, 7 min
2014 Return of a Curonian Pilot, director Petr Zhukov
2014 The Moomin Boom (episode cinematographer), director Nina Pulkkis (TV4 Play, MTV3)
2013 Young and Gay in Putin’s Russia (Vice), 31 min
2013 Farewell to Fireplace, director Petr Zhukov, 19 min.
2012 Anton’s Right Here (episode cinematographer), director Lyubov Arkus, 110 min (Silver Mouse Award of internet critics at Venice IFF 2012)
2012 When New Year Comes on Shabbat (DoP), director Nikita Pavlov, 83 min (Ji.hlava IDFF, ArtDocFest 2012)
2012 Goodbye, Tegel, director Sergio Rufini Mastropasqua, 8 min.
2011 U, director Petr Zhukov, 15 min.
2010 Stories for my daughter, director Nikita Pavlov, idea by Petr Zhukov. 17 min.