Evgeny Afineevsky
| Evgeny Afineevsky | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 21, 1972 Kazan, Russia |
| Occupation | Film director, producer and cinematographer |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Notable work | Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, Cries from Syria |
Evgeny Afineevsky (born October 21, 1972) is an American film director, producer and cinematographer of Russian descent. Afineevsky is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Directors Guild of America and Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. In 2016 Afineevsky was nominated for an Academy Award® and Emmys for his documentary Winter on Fire. His latest project, Cries from Syria, premiered in 2017 and earned him the Best Director Award at the annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards in New York.
Career
Afineevsky's filmmaking career began as a teenager when he won the First Prize for Best Documentary in Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, and was invited to participate in the Black Sea International Film Festival hosted by the USSR Pioneer Camp Orlyonok in Krasnodar region, Russia.
During 1994-2000, Afineevksy coordinated and produced over 30 musicals in Israel, such as: “Bat” (Die Fledermaus), “Gypsy Baron,” “Viennese Blood,” “Night in Venice,” “Silva Princess of Csárdás”, “Mozart Konzerte” with the Prague National Opera Orchestra, and many others. In 1997 and through the beginning of 1999, he produced and co-directed the play “The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christie, and with great success he produced and again co-directed a play by Agatha Christie titled “Spider Web’ in 1999.
In 1999, still in Israel, he directed the TV series “Days of Love.” In 2000-2002, he produced three feature films, “Crime & Punishment,” starring Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Clive Revil and Margot Kidder; “Death Game,” starring Billy Drago, Joe Lara, Richard Lynch and Bo Brown; and “The Return from India,” starring Aki Avni, Riki Gal, Assi Dayan, Dana Parnas and Orly Perl.
As producer of “The Return from India” (2002), Afineevsky received the Israeli Grand from the Israeli Film Fund. In 2005, he received The Gold Special Jury Award from the 38th Annual Houston Worldfest for “The Return from India.” In 2007, he received the Platinum Remi Award from the 40th Annual Houston Worldfest for his film “Crime & Punishment” (2002). In 2008, he received the Platinum Remi Award from the 41st Annual Houston Worldfest for his film “Death Game” (2002). He also received the Gold Remi Award for Best Original Comedy Screenplay for “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!” (2008) and he won the Best Original Screenplay / Script of the Year award from the Monaco Charity Film Festival for “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!,” which he produced and directed in 2008-2009-2010. “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!” was his feature directorial debut for which he collected over 23 awards in the US and abroad. Then he created the educational documentary project “Divorce: A Journey Through the Kids’ Eyes,” which was immediately picked up by distributors and received awards and recognition from the US festival circuit.
His historical feature documentary Winter on Fire was an official selection of the Venice and Telluride international film festivals, received the People’s Choice Award for the Best Documentary from the Toronto International Film Festival, the 2016 Television Academy Honors Award and was nominated for an Academy Award® in the Best Documentary category and the Primetime Emmy Awards in the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking category.
[1]The award winning Winter on Fire served an inspiration for [2]Venezuelan anti-government protestors in Caracas in June 2017.
In 2016 Afineevsky spent months on the ground in Syria, using his cameras to craft a comprehensive account of the brutal five year civil war. His new documentary, Cries from Syria, was an Official Selection at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. HBO has acquired U.S. TV rights to Cries from Syria ahead of its world premiere in the Documentary Premieres section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film debuted on March 13, 2017 and is available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.
In August 2017 Evgeny Afineevsky was awarded with the Friend of the Free Press Trophy by the Los Angeles Press Club for his work on Cries from Syria.
Afineevsky was named the Best Director at the annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards in New York on November 2, 2017.
On November 21, 2017 Producers Guild of America named Cries from Syria among the nominees for the Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures Award.
Filmography
- Cries from Syria
- Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom
- Divorce: A Journey Through the Kids' Eyes
- Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!!
- Crime and Punishment
- Open Heart
- Death Game