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Alik Sakharov – film director

Alik Sakharov – film director

Alik Sakharov – film director


Alik Sakharov is an American film director, cinematographer.
The boy was born on May 17, 1959 in Tashkent, USSR. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Moscow. As a school boy Alik joined the photo club in one of Moscow’s Houses of Culture. And even to this day he has passion for photography. When Alik was fifteen years old his parents gave him a camera. So, the boy started to film short amateur videos. Andrei Tarkovsky’s film The Mirror had the most significant influence on his artistic taste and is still his favorite movie.
In 1981 his family emigrated to the United States.
You know, in 1985, Sakharov made his first documentary film – The Russian Touch, about the life of Soviet immigrants in New York.
In 1986, he began to work as a cameraman and illuminator on one of the TV stations in the same New York City. There he gained experience on the set of short stories for television, advertising, and music videos.

Alik Sakharov – film director. Photo by Olesya Ermakova

Alik Sakharov – film director. Photo by Olesya Ermakova


Later, in 1991, Sakharov worked as the director of photography for a Hollywood screenwriter and director John Raffo on the set of the short film Big And Mean.
In 1992, Alik made his own short film Pausa. He called it visual meditation and dedicated to his favorite film director Andrei Tarkovsky. Sakharov said that Soviet operators Daniil Demutsky, Sergey Urusevsky, as well as the US operator Gordon Willis have had the greatest influence on him.
By the way, in the 1990s, Sakharov filme several feature-length movies by independent directors and small television series.
In 1997, Alik began successful cooperation with HBO TV channel.
Actually, Sakharov participated in the creation of the popular television series including The Sopranos, Dexter, Sex and the City, Rome, Brotherhood, Easy Money, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Chicago Fire, Chicago Police, The Americans, Marco Polo, Black Sails, Flesh and Bone.
In 2007, Sakharov received Emmy Award for Best Cinematography.
Alik Sakharov – film director

Alik Sakharov – film director