Aleksei Balabanov

Born in Sverdlovsk, RSFSR, USSR on February 25, 1959 — died May 18, 2013 (aged 54)

Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and producer, a member of European Film Academy. He started from creating mostly arthouse pictures and music videos but gained significant mainstream popularity in action crime drama movies Brother (1997) and Brother 2 (2000). He has been referred to as the "Russian Quentin Tarantino" in the press for his critically acclaimed yet controversial films.